Campus Alert Archive
BGSU

An 81-Minute Silence: BGSU's First Swatting Call and the All-Clear That Came Before the Alert

OHswattingemergency notificationhigh confidence
Confirmed HoaxDetermined to be a hoax. The institutional response is documented because it reveals how the alert system performed under a perceived real threat.

At 9:53 AM EST on November 10, 2025, the City of Bowling Green Police Division received an anonymous call to a non-emergency line claiming an active shooter was inside Jerome Library at Bowling Green State University. BGSU Police responded, swept the building twice, and found no threat. The university's first AlertBG message did not reach students until 11:14 AM EST — 81 minutes after the call and after the all-clear had already been declared. The incident was determined to be a swatting hoax and BGSU's first.

Alerts
2
Response
—
Killed
—
Injured
—
Institution
Bowling Green State University
Public R2 · OH
~20,000 studentsAlertBG
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

ALL CLEARSMS
Verified verbatimBG Falcon Media (BGSU student outlet) directly quoting the AlertBG text message109 chars
All clear: BGSUPD responded to an anonymous call of threat at the library, received by City of Bowling Green.
This 'all clear' was actually the first AlertBG notification students received — sent 81 minutes after the 9:53 AM EST call to the Bowling Green Police Division
The decision to skip an initial alert and only send an all-clear is highly unusual and drew significant criticism from BGSU students and Falcon Media editorials
The phrase 'received by City of Bowling Green' is unusual jurisdictional attribution — it clarifies that the call did not come through BGSU's own dispatch line but adds confusion in a moment when speed matters more than clarity
FOLLOW-UPEmail
Approximate reconstruction206 chars
BGSUPD has cleared Jerome Library after responding to an anonymous call about a threat. The library is open and no immediate danger to the campus community has been identified. The investigation is ongoing.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reconstructed; the email was sent 14 minutes after the SMS all-clear and provided more context about the police response and investigation
The phrase 'no immediate danger' is hedged language that stops short of declaring the campus fully safe — appropriate for an unresolved swatting investigation
BGSU sent a third email at 4:46 PM EST that day with additional information, making this a four-message sequence total
Context

Background

Bowling Green State University is a public R2 doctoral university in Bowling Green, Ohio, with about 20,000 students. On the morning of Monday, November 10, 2025, at 9:53 AM EST, the City of Bowling Green Police Division received an anonymous call to a non-emergency line claiming an active shooter was inside Jerome Library, BGSU's main academic library. The dispatcher flagged the call as potentially false but, out of an abundance of caution, BGSU Police, city officers, and Wood County deputies responded. Officers conducted two full sweeps of the library, talked with people on scene who reported nothing unusual, and declared an all-clear. The first AlertBG text message reached students at 11:14 AM EST — 81 minutes after the call and after the police all-clear had already been issued. An email followed at 11:28 AM EST and a final email at 4:46 PM EST. The incident was BGSU's first swatting call, and the delayed notification drew sharp criticism from students and Falcon Media. The same morning, Eastern Illinois University received a parallel anonymous armed-person call — but EIU sent its first alert in 5 minutes, a 76-minute difference that has since become a benchmark in campus alert-timing analyses.
Analysis

Key Findings

BGSU's first AlertBG notification arrived 81 minutes after the call — coincidentally the exact same delay that triggered the University of Pittsburgh student 'die-in' protests in 2023
The first message students received was an 'all-clear' rather than an 'initial' alert, an unusual sequence that left students learning about the threat from rumors rather than the university
On the same morning, Eastern Illinois University received a parallel anonymous threat call but sent its first alert in 5 minutes — a stark side-by-side comparison
BGSU's three-email follow-up sequence over six hours illustrates how multi-channel emergency communication can dilute rather than reinforce a coherent message
Outcome
No injuries occurred. BGSU Police, Bowling Green Police Division, and Wood County Sheriff's deputies conducted two full sweeps of Jerome Library, confirming no shooter, no firearm, and no signs of an active threat. The call was determined to be a swatting hoax. BGSU faced significant student criticism over the 81-minute delay between the call and the first AlertBG notification.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Student Paper
    BGSU's swatting call: What went wrong? (BG Falcon Media)
    bgfalconmedia.com
  2. Student Paper
    BREAKING: BGSUPD responds to threat at Jerome Library (BG Falcon Media)
    bgfalconmedia.com
  3. News
    'False alarm': Authorities determine 'no immediate threat' at BGSU library (13abc)
    13abc.com
  4. News
    BGSU receives swatting call for active shooter (Sentinel-Tribune)
    sent-trib.com
  5. News
    'No immediate threat' on BGSU campus after anonymous call (WTOL)
    wtol.com
  6. News
    Anonymous threat made on BGSU campus; determined to be false alarm (BG Independent News)
    bgindependentmedia.org
  7. Official
    AlertBG (BGSU Public Safety)
    bgsu.edu
Tags
swattingfalse-alarmohiopublic-r2alertbgcommunication-failuredelayed-notificationlibrary-targetverbatimHoax
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion