Active shooter hoax at UK comes amid national surge

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - The University of Kentucky responded to reports of an active shooter on campus, which turned out to be a hoax.

UK Police say they and Lexington Police responded within two minutes to a report near the William T. Young Library around 12:12 p.m. Using the campus camera system, officers quickly determined the report was false.

The university says that because the situation was resolved so quickly, no UK Alerts were issued, and community members were not asked to take any action.

“Maybe not an official announcement through UK alerts, but I feel like they should communicate a little bit. I mean, even if it’s a threat, it’s as serious as it could be real,” UK Senior Andres Phillips said.

The university said police are aware of similar false reports at universities nationwide in recent days and are monitoring the situation closely.

“There’s absolutely no joking to the gun violence that’s gone on, especially inside school areas, so it’s nothing to fool around with,” UK Senior Thomas Tafel said.

UK Police Chief Joe Monroe released this statement about what happened:

Across the country, law enforcement agencies are experiencing an increase in “swatting” calls — false reports designed to trigger a heavy police response. These incidents are not only disruptive and dangerous, but they also drain valuable resources that should be focused on real emergencies. UKPD, like departments nationwide, must treat each call as credible, which means time, personnel and equipment are diverted from where they may truly be needed.

Students on campus said this incident was alarming because they did not get a UK Alert from the university.

Some students told WKYT they did not know there was a swatting call about an active shooter until seeing social media chatter.

“I shouldn’t have to hear people talking about our campus going through this on TikTok and Snapchat,” UK Freshman Arianna Hernandez said.