The ‘active shooter’ in Burge confirmed as a false alarm
What you need to know about the prank that freaked out Burge residents
At 5:08pm on Saturday University of Iowa Police received a phone call from a distressed resident of Burge Residence Hall reporting an “active shooter.”
The student said he received a text from a friend saying there was an “active shooter” inside the residence hall and that police should be contacted immediately. University officials and residence hall staff immediately began evacuating students from the building.
Armed University Police arrived on the scene shortly after evacuation began. At 5:16pm, a second phone call was made to University Police by the initial caller reporting that the friend who had texted him said there was no actual shooter inside Burge and that the text message had been a joke.
At 5:32pm the University of Iowa tweeted that the report of the shooter was confirmed as a false alarm.
Shortly after, at 7:28pm, another tweet was sent out by the University of Iowa containing an image of the official statement released by the university regarding the incident.
Both students have been brought in to the University of Iowa Police Department for questioning about the incident. No arrests have been made.
Although the situation itself is over, many students are still asking questions and voicing concerns. Students being evacuated from Burge at the time of the incident reported that officers and staff told them very little information about what was going on.
Ellie Lenz, 18 and a resident of Burge, said “I was leaving the [Burge] dining hall when at least 10 officers came running into the building telling people to leave. I tried to ask what was going on and an officer screamed at me ‘Get out of Burge and run.'”
Another student, Meredith Hickerson, also 18 and a Burge resident, said that although she was not inside Burge when the alarm was sounded, but received texts from friends that officers were “running around with assault rifles telling [students] to run outside and get out.”
Many students were very concerned as to why the University of Iowa did not release a Hawk Alert to inform the student body and their families about the situation.
Ellie Lenz said “I was really upset that [the university] didn’t send out a Hawk Alert because no one had any clue about what was going on. People who were coming home had no idea Burge was evacuating.”
The university reported that a Hawk Alert was not sent out because no immediate threat to students was found.