Leafy St. Mary’s College, which has happily escaped many of the problems facing its counterpart campuses, got a dose of the current reality Thursday after a social media post was conflated with reports of an “active shooter” loose on campus.
Moraga Police, already on campus in answer to a perceived threat involving a posted picture of a college building and pictures of various firearms, ramped up their response as rumors of an active gunman swept the campus.
Students who contacted this site to report they were “sheltering” requested information on developments and, once police had determined no threat was present, said a similar hoax swept the campus during a town-wide power outage in early October.
A release issued by MPD said they were able to identify the person who posted photos and determine that they presented no threat. The identity of that person, nor his or her relationship to the college, was not given.
Helicopters from local television stations orbited the college briefly at the height of the alert, further pushing student concerns that they were in the midst of a potentially deadly incident.
Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact Moraga Police at 925-888.7055.
Leafy, but not Ivy League. Man, you guys are spare with your description of the best college in the news24680 corridor! That said, that threat was not so anonymous after all. Not funny. Not funny. Set the young man down (90% chance it is a he) and explain to him how not funny it is! Real world consequences need to apply. We live in a world where this can no longer be considered a prank.
Uhhhh… those are the guns????