{
  "id": "2025-03-13-claremont-mckenna-pomona-swatting",
  "slug": "claremont-mckenna-pomona-swatting-2025-03-13",
  "institution": {
    "name": "Claremont McKenna College",
    "shortName": "CMC",
    "state": "CA",
    "type": "private-liberal-arts",
    "alertSystemName": "5C Campus Safety Alert",
    "enrollment": 1400
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2025-03-13",
    "type": "swatting",
    "cleryCategory": "emergency-notification",
    "headline": "Swatting call locks down all five consortium campuses for more than two hours",
    "headlinePublic": "Swatting call locks down all five consortium campuses for more than two hours",
    "summary": "On the afternoon of March 13, 2025, [the Claremont Police Department received a swatting call](https://www.facebook.com/ClaremontPoliceDepartment/posts/979770654255184/) from an unknown person who claimed to be holding someone captive in a Claremont McKenna College restroom and threatened to detonate a bomb and shoot anyone they saw. [Campus Safety issued a series of alerts to all five Claremont Consortium colleges (Pomona, CMC, Scripps, Pitzer, Harvey Mudd)](https://tsl.news/swatting-call-prompts-lockdown-across-the-5cs/) directing students to shelter in place. After more than two hours, [Claremont PD confirmed the call was a swatting hoax](https://tsl.news/5c-students-recall-fear-and-confusion-after-swatting-incident/).",
    "outcome": "No injuries occurred and no suspect or device was found. Claremont Police searched the campus thoroughly and confirmed the call was a swatting hoax. Pomona College canceled all classes that afternoon. The Claremont Police Department announced an investigation into the false report.",
    "resolution": "confirmed-hoax",
    "casualties": {
      "killed": 0,
      "injured": 0
    }
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestamp": "2025-03-13T16:55:00-07:00",
      "channel": "sms",
      "verbatimText": "5C CAMPUS SAFETY ALERT: Police activity reported on or near Claremont McKenna College campus. STAY AWAY FROM THE AREA. Updates to follow.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://tsl.news/swatting-call-prompts-lockdown-across-the-5cs/",
      "sourceDescription": "The Student Life (5C student newspaper) coverage of the 4:55 p.m. PDT initial 5C Campus Safety Alert",
      "annotations": [
        "The 4:55 p.m. PDT alert was sent across all five Claremont Colleges via the shared 5C Campus Safety Alert system",
        "The initial language ('Police activity ... STAY AWAY') was deliberately under-specific compared to follow-up alerts that named the threat directly",
        "The 5C consortium's shared alert system means a single Pomona-issued alert reaches CMC, Scripps, Pitzer, and Harvey Mudd simultaneously"
      ],
      "characterCount": 137
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "update",
      "timestamp": "2025-03-13T17:10:00-07:00",
      "channel": "sms",
      "verbatimText": "5C CAMPUS SAFETY ALERT: POTENTIAL SHOOTER ON CMC CAMPUS. Police are responding. If on campus, lock doors, turn off lights, stay away from windows. If off campus, stay off campus.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://tsl.news/swatting-call-prompts-lockdown-across-the-5cs/",
      "sourceDescription": "The Student Life coverage of the 5:10 p.m. PDT escalated alert naming a potential shooter on CMC's campus",
      "annotations": [
        "The 15-minute escalation from 'police activity' to 'POTENTIAL SHOOTER ON CMC CAMPUS' reflects how the swatter's bomb-and-rifle threat was passed to the alert system",
        "The all-caps 'POTENTIAL SHOOTER' language signaled life-safety urgency to recipients",
        "Instructing 'If off campus, stay off campus' is now a standard 5C alert phrase developed after past swatting events"
      ],
      "characterCount": 178
    },
    {
      "sequence": 3,
      "type": "update",
      "timestamp": "2025-03-13T17:15:00-07:00",
      "channel": "sms",
      "verbatimText": "5C CAMPUS SAFETY ALERT: SHELTER IN PLACE. IF YOU ARE OFF CAMUS STAY OFF CAMPUS. CMC is being searched by police. Continue sheltering. More updates to follow.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://tsl.news/swatting-call-prompts-lockdown-across-the-5cs/",
      "sourceDescription": "The Student Life coverage of the 5:15 p.m. PDT shelter-in-place alert",
      "annotations": [
        "The misspelling 'CAMUS' instead of 'CAMPUS' is preserved verbatim, a real typo in a high-pressure alert sequence",
        "Repeating the previous instruction within five minutes (5:10 → 5:15 PDT) reflects how compressed the alert tempo was during the active sweep",
        "Saying CMC was 'being searched by police' was accurate and informative without revealing operational details"
      ],
      "characterCount": 157
    },
    {
      "sequence": 4,
      "type": "all-clear",
      "timestamp": "2025-03-13T19:36:00-07:00",
      "channel": "sms",
      "verbatimText": "",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceUrl": "https://tsl.news/swatting-call-prompts-lockdown-across-the-5cs/",
      "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed from The Student Life and Claremont Independent reporting on the 7:36 p.m. PDT all-clear that confirmed the swatting determination",
      "annotations": []
    }
  ],
  "context": "The [Claremont Colleges](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claremont_Colleges) (Pomona, Claremont McKenna, Scripps, Pitzer, and Harvey Mudd) are a consortium of five undergraduate liberal arts colleges sharing a single contiguous campus footprint in Claremont, California. They share a single [Campus Safety service](https://www.cuc.claremont.edu/) and a unified 5C alert system. On the afternoon of March 13, 2025, [the Claremont Police Department received a swatting call](https://www.facebook.com/ClaremontPoliceDepartment/posts/979770654255184/) from an anonymous person claiming to be in a Claremont McKenna College restroom holding someone captive, threatening to detonate a bomb and shoot anyone they saw. The 5C Campus Safety Alert system [pushed an escalating series of messages](https://tsl.news/swatting-call-prompts-lockdown-across-the-5cs/), starting with a 4:55 p.m. PDT 'police activity' notice, escalating to a 5:10 p.m. PDT 'POTENTIAL SHOOTER ON CMC CAMPUS' alert, and then a 5:15 p.m. PDT shelter-in-place. [Pomona canceled all afternoon classes](https://tsl.news/swatting-call-prompts-lockdown-across-the-5cs/) and students huddled in dorms, libraries, and dining halls for over two hours. At 7:36 p.m. PDT, the all-clear arrived. Swatting calls prompted large police responses at other California colleges around the same period, [part of a broader pattern](https://kesq.com/cnn-regional/2025/04/21/swatting-calls-spark-fear-massive-police-responses-in-california/). The case is significant for documenting how a single swatting call can simultaneously lock down five colleges sharing a common alert system.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "A single swatting call locked down all five Claremont Colleges (Pomona, CMC, Scripps, Pitzer, Harvey Mudd) simultaneously through their shared 5C Campus Safety Alert system",
    "The verbatim alert text included a typo ('CAMUS' instead of 'CAMPUS') preserved as documented in The Student Life student newspaper",
    "The lockdown lasted more than two hours and 40 minutes, from 4:55 p.m. PDT initial alert to 7:36 p.m. PDT all-clear on March 13, 2025",
    "The all-clear explicitly used the word 'swatting,' framing the incident as a known phenomenon rather than a generic 'unfounded report'",
    "Pomona College canceled all afternoon classes during the lockdown",
    "The Claremont incident illustrates how shared alert systems amplify the reach (and disruption) of a single swatting call across multi-campus consortia"
  ],
  "responseTimeMinutes": 5,
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Swatting call prompts lockdown across the 5Cs - The Student Life (Claremont student newspaper)",
      "url": "https://tsl.news/swatting-call-prompts-lockdown-across-the-5cs/",
      "type": "student-newspaper"
    },
    {
      "title": "5C students recall fear and confusion after swatting incident - The Student Life",
      "url": "https://tsl.news/5c-students-recall-fear-and-confusion-after-swatting-incident/",
      "type": "student-newspaper"
    },
    {
      "title": "Claremont McKenna College lifts lockdown after hoax bomb, shooting call - NBC Los Angeles",
      "url": "https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/claremont-mckenna-college-on-lockdown-following-reports-of-possible-shooter/3654532/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "False Shooter Threat Appears to be 'Swatting' Incident - Claremont Independent",
      "url": "https://www.claremontindependent.com/post/false-shooter-threat-appears-to-be-swatting-incident",
      "type": "student-newspaper"
    },
    {
      "title": "Swatting Call at Claremont McKenna College - Claremont Police Department Facebook",
      "url": "https://www.facebook.com/ClaremontPoliceDepartment/posts/979770654255184/",
      "type": "official-social"
    },
    {
      "title": "Emergency Information | Pomona College in Claremont, California",
      "url": "https://www.pomona.edu/emergency",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "Crimes on Campus | Pomona College Emergency",
      "url": "https://www.pomona.edu/emergency/preparation/crime",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "Campus Safety warns of potential shooter at CMC - The Student Life",
      "url": "https://tsl.news/campus-safety-warns-of-potential-shooter-at-cmc/",
      "type": "student-newspaper"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "high",
  "tags": [
    "swatting",
    "private-liberal-arts",
    "claremont-colleges",
    "claremont-mckenna",
    "pomona-college",
    "5c-consortium",
    "california",
    "hoax",
    "shared-alert-system",
    "lockdown",
    "shelter-in-place"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-05-03",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-05-03",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}