{
  "id": "2019-10-09-los-medanos-college-active-shooter-false-report",
  "slug": "los-medanos-college-active-shooter-false-report-2019-10-09",
  "institution": {
    "name": "Los Medanos College",
    "shortName": "LMC",
    "state": "CA",
    "type": "community-college",
    "alertSystemName": "Contra Costa Community College District EMERAlert"
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2019-10-09",
    "type": "swatting",
    "cleryCategory": "emergency-notification",
    "resolution": "confirmed-hoax",
    "headline": "Anonymous nighttime active-shooter report prompts brief lockdown; no threat found",
    "headlinePublic": "Anonymous nighttime active-shooter report prompts brief lockdown; no threat found",
    "summary": "[Los Medanos College ordered people on its Pittsburg campus to shelter in place](https://lmcexperience.com/top-stories/2019/10/09/lmc-on-lockdown/) after an anonymous active-shooter report. [East County Today reported](https://eastcountytoday.net/contra-costa-community-college-district-police-determine-no-threat-at-lmc-pittsburg-campus/) that District Police and Pittsburg Police swept the campus, found no evidence of a threat, and treated the incident as a false report.",
    "outcome": "The shelter-in-place order lasted roughly 25 minutes and was lifted after police found no armed person, no shooting, and no evidence of a threat.",
    "casualties": {
      "killed": 0,
      "injured": 0
    }
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestamp": "2019-10-09T21:42:00-07:00",
      "channel": "sms",
      "verbatimText": "there was a report of an armed individual on campus. Police checking the area of the music building. No indication of shots fired. Remain in place until released by police.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://lmcexperience.com/top-stories/2019/10/09/lmc-on-lockdown/",
      "sourceDescription": "LMC Experience quoting the Contra Costa Community College District EMERAlert message",
      "annotations": [
        "The message balanced the worst-case premise with the important clarification that there was no indication of shots fired.",
        "The lowercase opening is preserved exactly as published by the student newspaper."
      ],
      "characterCount": 172
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "all-clear",
      "timestamp": "2019-10-09T22:07:00-07:00",
      "channel": "sms",
      "verbatimText": "the shelter in place at Los Medanos College has been lifted. There is no threat or indications of an armed person or shooting on campus. Multiple police agencies are on location to insure your safe departure.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://lmcexperience.com/top-stories/2019/10/09/lmc-on-lockdown/",
      "sourceDescription": "LMC Experience quoting the Contra Costa Community College District EMERAlert all-clear",
      "annotations": [
        "The all-clear directly negated both the armed-person and shooting elements of the original report.",
        "The word 'insure' is preserved exactly from the quoted alert text."
      ],
      "characterCount": 208
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "LMC on lockdown",
      "url": "https://lmcexperience.com/top-stories/2019/10/09/lmc-on-lockdown/",
      "type": "student-newspaper"
    },
    {
      "title": "Contra Costa Community College District Police Determine No Threat at LMC Pittsburg Campus",
      "url": "https://eastcountytoday.net/contra-costa-community-college-district-police-determine-no-threat-at-lmc-pittsburg-campus/",
      "type": "local-media"
    }
  ],
  "context": "The LMC case is a compact example of a nighttime active-shooter false report: [student reporters captured the EMERAlert wording](https://lmcexperience.com/top-stories/2019/10/09/lmc-on-lockdown/) and the classroom-level response as police searched the music-building area. [East County Today published the district police account](https://eastcountytoday.net/contra-costa-community-college-district-police-determine-no-threat-at-lmc-pittsburg-campus/), including the 9:42 p.m. PDT shelter-in-place order and 10:07 p.m. PDT lift time on October 9, 2019. The college community received an [all-clear 25 minutes after the initial alert that explicitly ruled out an armed person or shooting](https://lmcexperience.com/top-stories/2019/10/09/lmc-on-lockdown/).",
  "confidence": "medium",
  "tags": [
    "swatting",
    "active-shooter-report",
    "shelter-in-place",
    "california",
    "community-college"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-05-15",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-07-16",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}