Hoax active-shooter call prompts five alerts in 68 minutes, ending in all-clear
AI-generated · every claim is source-linkedOn the evening of May 7, 2023, a hoax 911 call reported an active shooter at "the main building" at the intersection of East Packer Avenue and Webster Street on Lehigh's Asa Packer campus. The Lehigh University Police Department issued five HawkWatch alerts between 9:43 PM EDT and 10:51 PM EDT, beginning with a Run-Hide-Fight directive and ending with an all-clear that confirmed the report was a hoax. The case became part of the May 2023 wave of college campus swatting incidents that also hit the University of Pittsburgh, Rider, Rutgers, and Saint Joseph's.
- Alerts
- 6
- Response
- —
- Killed
- 0
- Injured
- 0
Alert Sequence
6 messages in sequence · 5 verified verbatim
Some messages in this sequence are documented (their existence, timing, and channel are sourced) but their exact wording is not preserved in the public record. Those entries appear as placeholders; only confirmed text is displayed.
How the first alert is built
To check this alert, Claude (an AI) read it in full 25 separate times, independently. Each read decided whether the message answers each of the six questions and gave a short reason. A final reviewer then weighed all 25 and wrote the plain-English verdict you see when you open a row. The score (for example 22/25) is how many reads agreed; the 25 individual reads are tucked underneath if you want to check them.
There is no active shooter threat detected, please shelter in place until you hear other.
Sourceabsent0/0
Who is sending the alert and who is responding. People act faster on a message from a clearly identifiable, credible sender, such as a named department, the police, or a branded alert system, than on an anonymous notice. A branded signature counts.
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Hazardabsent0/0
What the threat actually is. A complete warning names the specific danger, such as a shooter, a fire, a tornado, or a gas leak, rather than a vague emergency, because people decide what to do based on what they are facing.
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Locationabsent0/0
Where the threat is. Saying whether danger is in a specific building, a part of campus, or area-wide lets people judge their own proximity and choose a safe direction. Without a where, a warning is hard to act on precisely.
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Guidanceabsent0/0
The protective action to take. A clear, specific instruction, such as shelter in place, evacuate, avoid the area, or run-hide-fight, drives faster and more correct protective behavior than describing the threat alone.
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Timeabsent0/0
When the message applies. A timestamp, the word now or immediately, or a phrase like until further notice tells the reader whether the danger is current and how quickly to act.
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Impactabsent0/0
What the hazard could do to the people in its path. Beyond naming the threat, a complete warning conveys its potential consequences or severity, such as that a tornado can level buildings or that a leak could be explosive, so recipients grasp how much danger they are in. Research on warning message content finds that a concrete impact statement helps people personalize their risk and act sooner.
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Systematic AI judgments with visible reasoning, not human-validated codings.
About this analysisBackground
Key Findings
Sources
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Campus Alert Archive. "Lehigh University: Hoax active-shooter call prompts five alerts in 68 minutes, ending in all-clear." Incident of May 7, 2023. Added May 2026; last updated July 2026. https://campusalertarchive.com/case/lehigh-university-active-shooter-hoax-2023-05-07/
Alert text quoted on this page remains the work of the issuing institution; the archive is a secondary source.