Campus Alert Archive
SUU

False active-shooter call prompts a four-hour search of about 20 buildings

AI-generated · every claim is source-linked
UTswattingemergency notificationhigh confidence
Compare →
Confirmed HoaxDetermined to be a hoax. The institutional response is documented because it reveals how the alert system performed under a perceived real threat.

A suspicious phone call reporting an active shooter on the Southern Utah University campus triggered a full lockdown at approximately 9:20 AM MDT on April 11, 2024. SUU Police and Cedar City Police searched approximately 20 buildings over four hours before issuing an all-clear at 1:10 PM MDT. No shots were fired and the incident was determined to be a likely swatting hoax. The FBI was called in to investigate.

Alerts
5
Response
—
Killed
—
Injured
—
Institution
Southern Utah University
Public Masters · UT
All SUU cases →
~15,000 studentsSUU Alert
Documented Timeline

Alert Sequence

5 messages in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

Confirmed wording is transcribed character-for-character from a primary source. Use Verify this quote under each message to open that source in a new tab and compare the text yourself.

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.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Wording not yet recovered

A message was sent at this point in the sequence; its exact wording has not yet been recovered from the official record, so no text is shown. This site never paraphrases or reconstructs alert wording. Markers like this one keep the emergency's true shape and become word-for-word messages as recovery reaches the source.

Gephardt Daily quoting the 9:23 a.m. SUU Alert verbatim
UPDATESMS+10 min
Wording not yet recovered

A message was sent at this point in the sequence; its exact wording has not yet been recovered from the official record, so no text is shown. This site never paraphrases or reconstructs alert wording. Markers like this one keep the emergency's true shape and become word-for-word messages as recovery reaches the source.

Gephardt Daily quoting the 9:33 a.m. SUU Alert verbatim
UPDATESMS+29 min
Wording not yet recovered

A message was sent at this point in the sequence; its exact wording has not yet been recovered from the official record, so no text is shown. This site never paraphrases or reconstructs alert wording. Markers like this one keep the emergency's true shape and become word-for-word messages as recovery reaches the source.

Gephardt Daily quoting the 9:52 a.m. SUU Alert verbatim
UPDATESMS+43 min
Wording not yet recovered

A message was sent at this point in the sequence; its exact wording has not yet been recovered from the official record, so no text is shown. This site never paraphrases or reconstructs alert wording. Markers like this one keep the emergency's true shape and become word-for-word messages as recovery reaches the source.

Gephardt Daily quoting the 10:06 a.m. SUU Alert verbatim
ALL CLEARSMS+3h 47m
Verified verbatim387 chars
All remaining buildings at SUU – have been searched and cleared by law enforcement. It is now safe to exit all remaining buildings and clear the area, while following law enforcement instructions. You may receive multiple or delayed text message notifications, please reference emails that are also being sent with the same information. All classes and activities are canceled for today.
Verify this quote
St. George News quoting the 1:10 PM MDT SUU Alert text verbatim, with headline 'Safe to exit: Lockdown lifted at SUU, campus being cleared by police'stgeorgeutah.comfind archived copies
Sent at 1:10 PM MDT on April 11, 2024, approximately three hours and 47 minutes after the initial 9:23 AM MDT alert
The all-clear notably omits the word 'hoax', the institution confirmed the swatting nature of the call in a separate news release rather than in the alert itself, keeping alert language operationally neutral
The phrase 'safe to exit all remaining buildings' implies a staged building-by-building clearance process rather than a simultaneous campus-wide release
DEEP AUDIT correct 2026-08-02: Cited stgeorgeutah.com archive URL is intermediate building-by-building clear piece (named buildings only). Sibling article 'Lockdown lifted on SUU campus' blockquotes full 1:10 p.m. campus-wide SMS including trailing multi-message note and 'All classes and activities are canceled for today.' Archive truncated. Correct to complete artifact; retarget sourceUrl.
Context

Background

The SUU swatting incident was part of a nationwide pattern of campus swatting hoaxes that accelerated through 2024 and into 2025. SUU President Mindy Benson confirmed the threat was most likely a swatting call, in which an individual makes a prank call to emergency services to provoke a large armed response to a specific location. The FBI was called in to investigate the origin of the call. Cedar City is a small community in southern Utah, and the lockdown affected not only the university but also nearby schools that went on precautionary lockdown. Local news coverage noted that reports of sounds resembling shots near the Science Building around 10:00 AM MDT caused secondary alarm, though law enforcement quickly determined no shots had been fired. The incident highlights how swatting exploits the mandatory response protocols that universities have developed since the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007.
Analysis

Key Findings

Swatting calls can paralyze an entire campus for hours even when no actual threat exists, consuming enormous law enforcement resources
Secondary reports of suspicious sounds during a lockdown can amplify alarm, as occurred with the unconfirmed noise near the Science Building
The nearly four-hour lockdown required clearing approximately 20 buildings, illustrating the scale of response a single phone call can trigger
The FBI's involvement reflects the federal interest in campus swatting as an interstate crime that often originates from outside the targeted community
Outcome
Determined to be a swatting hoax. No shots fired, no injuries. FBI investigating the origin of the phone call. All buildings cleared by 1:10 PM MDT.
Provenance

Sources

Every claim on this page is meant to be checkable. Open the links below (and the Verify this quote control under each confirmed alert) to read the original university, news, or archive page yourself. Hostnames are shown so you can see where you are going; archived copies survive when live pages move or disappear. See also our methodology.

  1. Official
    Update on Active Shooter Threat at SUU
    suu.edu
    archived copy
  2. News
    Police, FBI investigating if SUU active shooter threat is hoax
    ksl.com
    archived copy
  3. News
    Was active shooter threat at SUU swatting? What we know
    deseret.com
    archived copy
  4. News
    Southern Utah University hoax active shooter threat was likely swatting
    fox13now.com
    archived copy
  5. Student Paper
    Gephardt Daily quoting the 9:23 a.m. SUU Alert verbatim
    gephardtdaily.com
    archived copy
  6. News
    St. George News quoting the 1:10 PM MDT SUU Alert text verbatim, with headline 'Safe to exit: Lockdown lifted at SUU, ca
    stgeorgeutah.com
    archived copy
Cite this case

Campus Alert Archive. "Southern Utah University: False active-shooter call prompts a four-hour search of about 20 buildings." Incident of April 11, 2024. Added April 2026; last updated August 2026. https://campusalertarchive.com/case/southern-utah-university-swatting-2024-04-11/

Download case JSON

Alert text quoted on this page remains the work of the issuing institution; the archive is a secondary source.

Tags
swattinghoaxactive-shooter-false-alarmlockdownfbiutahpublic-mastersHoax
Added April 2026Updated August 2026Via ingestion