Campus Alert Archive
Yale

Overnight hoax call claiming an armed man locked down Old Campus for nearly three hours

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

An anonymous caller contacted the Yale Police Department at 12:16 a.m. EST on January 17, 2023 claiming to have seriously harmed a female student and to possess a knife and hunting rifle inside Bingham Hall. The nearly three-hour swatting incident forced a shelter-in-place for all of Old Campus before police determined the call was a hoax.

Alerts
3
Response
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Killed
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Injured
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Institution
Yale University
Private R1 · CT
All Yale cases →
~14,776 studentsYale ALERT
Official alert policy
Read when and how Yale says it will use Yale ALERT: summarized, quoted, and analyzed.
Documented Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 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.

Yale Daily News live coverage of January 17, 2023 swatting incident, quoting the Yale Alert text verbatim with full street address
UPDATESMS+1h 34m
Verified verbatim220 chars
Yale Alert: Police are investigating what they believe to be a false report from an individual threatening harm on Old Campus. Continue to shelter in place as police continue investigating out of an abundance of caution.
Verify this quote
Yale Daily News (quoting the 2:30 a.m. Yale Alert)yaledailynews.comfind archived copies
Yale Daily News quoted this alert verbatim, noting it announced police were investigating 'what they believe to be a false report from an individual threatening harm on Old Campus' and directed students to continue sheltering in place 'out of an abundance of caution'
Sent at 2:30 a.m. EST on January 17, 2023, while officers were reviewing card swipes and surveillance footage in and around Bingham Hall
This is the message that signaled to the campus that the report was likely a swatting hoax even before the all-clear was issued
ALL CLEARSMS+2h 11m
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.

Context

Background

At 12:16 a.m. EST on January 17, 2023, the Yale Police Department received a call from an unknown male claiming he had seriously harmed a female student, that she may be deceased, and that he possessed a knife and hunting rifle. The caller said he was near Bingham Hall on Old Campus and threatened to shoot officers who tried to enter. At 12:34 a.m. EST, the caller told a YPD officer he was in a dorm room in Bingham. Police immediately dispatched to Old Campus and set up a perimeter. At approximately 2:45 a.m. EST, the caller escalated by saying he would begin shooting in eight minutes. However, conflicting information from the caller led police to determine they were dealing with a swatting incident. The caller also used racial slurs and claimed there was a bomb in a bathroom, further indicating the call was not credible. The YPD, New Haven Police Department, and FBI collaborated on the investigation to identify the caller. Swatting incidents at universities have increased significantly nationwide, with callers exploiting emergency alert systems to cause maximum disruption.
Analysis

Key Findings

The 40-minute gap between the initial call at 12:16 a.m. EST on January 17, 2023 and the first Yale Alert at 12:56 a.m. EST reflects the challenge of assessing threat credibility before issuing a campus-wide notification
The caller demonstrated knowledge of Bingham Hall's layout, which initially lent credibility to the threat before inconsistencies emerged
The escalating nature of the calls, including threats to shoot in eight minutes, tested the police response framework even as officers increasingly suspected a hoax
The incident occurred during the first week of the spring semester, when dormitories were at full occupancy
Outcome
Police determined the calls were a false report (swatting) at approximately 3:00 a.m. No students were harmed. The Yale Police Department, New Haven Police Department, and FBI investigated to identify the caller.
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. Student Paper
    False reports of armed student in Bingham Hall triggers Old Campus lockdown - Yale Daily News
    yaledailynews.com
    archived copy
  2. Student Paper
    More details emerge about Old Campus swatting incident - Yale Daily News
    yaledailynews.com
    archived copy
  3. Official
    False Report Made to Yale Police Department (January 17, 2023) - Yale College Dean's Office
    yalecollege.yale.edu
    archived copy
  4. News
    Anonymous caller threatens safety of Yale students and SWAT's campus building - Fox 61
    fox61.com
    archived copy
Cite this case

Campus Alert Archive. "Yale University: Overnight hoax call claiming an armed man locked down Old Campus for nearly three hours." Incident of January 17, 2023. Added May 2026; last updated August 2026. https://campusalertarchive.com/case/yale-university-swatting-2023-01-17/

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

Tags
swattinghoaxshelter-in-placeold-campusivy-leaguefalse-reportconnecticutHoax
Added May 2026Updated August 2026Via ingestion