A report of a shooter on Villanova University campus that sparked panic among students and drew a heavy police presence was a “cruel hoax,” the school’s president said Thursday.
Families, students, and faculty were thrown into panic, sheltering in place and running for safety—only to later learn that the entire ordeal had been a hoax.
According to Radnor Township Police, the report of gunfire was sparked by a 911 call claiming there was an active shooter at Villanova’s Law School Scarpa Hall, located on the university’s West Campus.
The caller even alleged there was already one deceased victim. The alarming detail immediately escalated the response, prompting law enforcement at the local, state, and federal levels to rush to the scene.
University President Rev. Peter Donohue later confirmed what police had determined: there was no gunman, no shots fired, and no evidence of weapons on school grounds. “Today, as we were celebrating Orientation Mass to welcome our newest Villanovans and their families to our community, panic and terror ensued with the news of a possible shooter at the Law School,” Donohue wrote in a message to the university community. “Mercifully, no one was injured, and we now know that