{
  "id": "2014-04-25-kennesaw-state-university-cellphone-lockdown",
  "slug": "kennesaw-state-university-cellphone-lockdown-2014-04-25",
  "institution": {
    "name": "Kennesaw State University",
    "shortName": "KSU",
    "state": "GA",
    "type": "public-r2",
    "alertSystemName": "KSU Emergency Alert"
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2014-04-25",
    "type": "lockdown",
    "cleryCategory": "emergency-notification",
    "resolution": "false-alarm",
    "headline": "Report of a possible weapon prompts 90-minute lockdown; object was a cell phone",
    "headlinePublic": "Report of a possible weapon prompts 90-minute lockdown; object was a cell phone",
    "summary": "On April 25, 2014, a caller reported a suspicious man with a possible weapon in his pocket on [Kennesaw State University's](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennesaw_State_University) Campus Green, triggering a campus-wide lockdown just after 2 p.m. EDT. Students and faculty barricaded classroom doors with desks and tables while police searched the 384-acre campus. When officers located the individual approximately 90 minutes later, [the 'weapon' turned out to be his cell phone](https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/cell-phone-mistaken-for-gun-prompts-ksu-lockdown/93-299122593); he was cleared without any charges.",
    "outcome": "False alarm. Individual with cell phone in pocket was located and cleared. No charges filed. Lockdown lifted approximately 3:30 p.m.",
    "casualties": {
      "killed": 0,
      "injured": 0
    }
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestamp": "2014-04-25T14:05:00-04:00",
      "channel": "sms",
      "verbatimText": "",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/cell-phone-mistaken-for-gun-prompts-ksu-lockdown/93-299122593",
      "sourceDescription": "13WMAZ (WXIA), quoting the text alert KSU students received shortly after 2 p.m.",
      "annotations": []
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "all-clear",
      "timestamp": "2014-04-25T15:30:00-04:00",
      "channel": "twitter-x",
      "verbatimText": "The lockdown has been lifted and the all clear issued.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceDescription": "@kennesawstate on X (verbatim)",
      "annotations": [
        "Police confirmed the item in the individual's pocket was a cell phone, not a weapon; no charges were filed against the man",
        "The approximately 90-minute lockdown disrupted afternoon classes campus-wide; students were photographed barricading classroom doors throughout the incident",
        "The false alarm highlighted the difficulty of on-campus threat assessment where civilian 911 callers interpret ambiguous pocket bulges as weapons"
      ],
      "characterCount": 54,
      "sourceUrl": "https://x.com/kennesawstate/status/459780501213945856"
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Cell phone mistaken for gun prompts KSU lockdown (13WMAZ)",
      "url": "https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/cell-phone-mistaken-for-gun-prompts-ksu-lockdown/93-299122593",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Photos: Lockdown at Kennesaw State University (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)",
      "url": "https://www.ajc.com/news/photos-lockdown-kennesaw-state-university/AJkYKp8UVXOCzwBX2UlBlN/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Kennesaw State lockdown lifted after 'possible armed intruder' reported on campus (11Alive)",
      "url": "https://www.11alive.com/video/news/local/85-2b8e5959-affd-46c7-9ce1-aa722988e51a",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "type": "official-social",
      "title": "@kennesawstate on X (verbatim)",
      "url": "https://x.com/kennesawstate/status/459780501213945856"
    }
  ],
  "context": "[Kennesaw State University](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennesaw_State_University) is a large public research university in Kennesaw, Georgia, northwest of Atlanta in Cobb County. In April 2014 it had approximately 24,000 students across its 384-acre main campus. On April 25, 2014, a report of a suspicious individual with what appeared to be a weapon on the Campus Green prompted a full lockdown just after 2 p.m. EDT. Students across campus barricaded classroom doors with tables, desks, and chairs. [Officers from Kennesaw State police and Cobb County police searched the campus for roughly 90 minutes](https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/cell-phone-mistaken-for-gun-prompts-ksu-lockdown/93-299122593) before locating the individual, who was found to have a cell phone in his pocket rather than a weapon. He was cleared without charges. The incident, widely reported because of photographs of students crouched behind barricaded doors, illustrated the behavioral-threat challenge of distinguishing between concealed weapons and ordinary objects in high-traffic open-campus environments. KSU is a large public institution that had [explicitly engaged with active-shooter preparedness](https://www.kennesaw.edu/public-safety-police/notifications/index.php) in the post-Sandy Hook period.",
  "confidence": "medium",
  "tags": [
    "lockdown",
    "false-alarm",
    "cell-phone-mistaken",
    "public-r2",
    "georgia",
    "large-campus",
    "2014"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-05-31",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-07-20",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}