{
  "id": "2025-05-06-scad-atlanta-accidental-active-shooter-alert",
  "slug": "scad-atlanta-accidental-active-shooter-alert-2025-05-06",
  "institution": {
    "name": "Savannah College of Art and Design",
    "shortName": "SCAD",
    "state": "GA",
    "type": "private-bachelors",
    "alertSystemName": "SCAD Alert",
    "enrollment": 17500
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2025-05-06",
    "type": "other",
    "cleryCategory": "test",
    "resolution": "unfounded",
    "headline": "Active-shooter alert sent in error during a system test; correction followed in minutes",
    "headlinePublic": "Active-shooter alert sent in error during a system test; correction followed in minutes",
    "summary": "On May 6, 2025, the Savannah College of Art and Design [accidentally sent a live active-shooter alert](https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/scad-apology-active-shooter-alert-test) to its community during what was meant to be a test of the SCAD Alert system. [Students said it took about five minutes](https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/mistaken-active-shooter-alert-accidentally-sent-scad/85-e79133a0-de8c-410f-9d31-580a44dd5175) before a correction went out stating there was no active shooter on any SCAD campus. The art-and-design school, which spans Atlanta and Savannah locations, apologized for the error."
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestamp": "2025-05-06T11:00:00-04:00",
      "channel": "sms",
      "verbatimText": "",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2025/05/06/active-shooter-threat-reportedly-sent-inadvertently-scad-campuses/",
      "sourceDescription": "Atlanta News First (reconstructed from reporting)",
      "annotations": []
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "correction",
      "timestamp": "2025-05-06T11:05:00-04:00",
      "channel": "sms",
      "verbatimText": "SCAD Alert: UPDATE There is no Active Shooter on any SCAD Campus. The alert was inadvertently sent out. All locations are clear.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/mistaken-active-shooter-alert-accidentally-sent-scad/85-e79133a0-de8c-410f-9d31-580a44dd5175",
      "sourceDescription": "11Alive (quoted follow-up alert text)",
      "annotations": [
        "11Alive published this follow-up message verbatim; it took roughly five minutes after the erroneous alert, students said.",
        "The correction had to reassure recipients at both the Atlanta and Savannah campuses at once, since the live-mode error reached the entire SCAD community.",
        "The phrase 'inadvertently sent out' is the institution's own admission of operator error rather than a system malfunction."
      ],
      "characterCount": 128
    }
  ],
  "context": "SCAD, one of the largest art-and-design schools in the country, operates campuses in Atlanta and Savannah and tests its SCAD Alert emergency-notification system regularly. On May 6, 2025, a test was [inadvertently sent in live mode](https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2025/05/06/active-shooter-threat-reportedly-sent-inadvertently-scad-campuses/), pushing an active-shooter warning to the whole community. [11Alive reported](https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/mistaken-active-shooter-alert-accidentally-sent-scad/85-e79133a0-de8c-410f-9d31-580a44dd5175) that the correction ('There is no Active Shooter on any SCAD Campus. The alert was inadvertently sent out. All locations are clear.') followed about five minutes later, and [FOX 5 Atlanta reported](https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/scad-apology-active-shooter-alert-test) that SCAD apologized for the mistake. The episode is a useful archive entry on operator-error false alarms at a specialty institution and the multi-minute gap before a correction reaches a multi-city student body.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "A routine SCAD Alert test was sent in live mode on May 6, 2025, broadcasting an active-shooter warning to the entire community by mistake",
    "Students said the correction took about five minutes, a meaningful delay when the original message used 'Run, Hide, Fight' language",
    "Because SCAD spans Atlanta and Savannah, the erroneous alert and its correction had to reach a geographically split student body simultaneously",
    "SCAD publicly apologized and characterized the message as 'inadvertently sent,' an operator-error false alarm rather than a system failure"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Mistaken active shooter alert accidentally sent out at SCAD, officials say - 11Alive",
      "url": "https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/mistaken-active-shooter-alert-accidentally-sent-scad/85-e79133a0-de8c-410f-9d31-580a44dd5175",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Active shooter threat reportedly sent 'inadvertently' to SCAD Atlanta campus - Atlanta News First",
      "url": "https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2025/05/06/active-shooter-threat-reportedly-sent-inadvertently-scad-campuses/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "SCAD apologizes after active shooter alert test accidentally sent to students - FOX 5 Atlanta",
      "url": "https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/scad-apology-active-shooter-alert-test",
      "type": "local-media"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "medium",
  "tags": [
    "art-school",
    "design-school",
    "false-alarm",
    "operator-error",
    "active-shooter",
    "georgia",
    "specialty-institution"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-05-28",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-07-16",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}