OU active shooter was actually a “swatting” incident, President says

NORMAN, Okla. — The University of Oklahoma President Joseph Harroz, Jr. has provided an update on what happened on Friday night when false reports of an active shooter sent police cars to OU and had the campus on lockdown.

In an email sent out to students Sunday night, Harroz provided an update and described what happened as a “‘swatting’ incident.”

The update started off with Harroz expressing relief that this incident was not a real shooting and expressing gratitude to the OU Police Department (OUPD), OU Department of Campus Safety, and the more than 100 law enforcement officers from different agencies who provided assistance.

Harroz also noted that OUPD was on the scene in under two minutes and expressed his thanks to every student, faculty, and staff member who took the alerts seriously.

“As with any major event, we will learn from this and find ways to improve, but the main takeaway is that our community and its response were exceptional,” he said.

Harroz said at around 9:24 p.m., several 911 calls reporting an active shooter on campus near the South Oval and Bizzell Memorial Library were made. Officers immediately responded to the area, and after a thorough search, did not find any evidence of a shooting or criminal activity.

According to Harroz, with help from the FBI, this has been confirmed as a “swatting” incident, where callers fake an emergency to draw a large law enforcement response.

Harroz said although the investigation will continue, it is believed that the calls came from outside the United States.

“It is deeply troubling that there are people who want to purposely inflict such trauma and chaos,” Harroz said.

Harroz advised OU students, faculty, and staff experiencing fear or anxiety over what happened to reach out to campus counseling services, including student life or centralized student affairs team members for students and OU’s Employee Assistance Program for faculty and staff.

Harroz also advised them that now is a good time to update or verify contact information for OU emergency communication alerts by going to ecs.ou.edu.

Anyone who isn’t an OU student or employee can opt-in to receive emergency alerts for any of OU’s campuses.

To opt-in on the Norman campus, text ‘OUALERTS’ to 67283, for the Health Sciences Center text ‘HSCAFFILIATE’ to 226787, and for OU-Tulsa text ‘OUTulsa’ to 67283.

“I again share my gratitude to all of you. As always, I am humbled and honored to be a part of this remarkably caring community,” Harroz said.