{
  "id": "2025-08-26-utsa-swatting",
  "slug": "utsa-swatting-2025-08-26",
  "institution": {
    "name": "University of Texas at San Antonio",
    "shortName": "UTSA",
    "state": "TX",
    "type": "public-r1",
    "alertSystemName": "UTSA Alert",
    "enrollment": 34000
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2025-08-26",
    "type": "swatting",
    "cleryCategory": "emergency-notification",
    "resolution": "confirmed-hoax",
    "headline": "Two swatting calls in rapid succession on the second day of classes; both unfounded",
    "headlinePublic": "Two swatting calls in rapid succession on the second day of classes; both unfounded",
    "summary": "On the night of Tuesday, August 26, 2025 (the second day of the fall semester) the University of Texas at San Antonio was [targeted by two swatting calls in rapid succession](https://www.utsa.edu/today/2025/08/story/utsa-leadsership-respond-to-campus-alerts.html). The first reported an incident at the Main Building; the second reported a threat in campus housing. UTSA Police evacuated affected areas and issued emergency alerts. [A second, contradictory all-clear alert was issued 19 minutes later](https://www.tpr.org/news/2025-08-27/utsa-students-evacuated-from-on-campus-housing-following-hoax-threats) after both calls were determined to be unfounded. The incident occurred at the peak of the [August 2025 \"Purgatory\" swatting wave](https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/public-safety/utsa-alert-students-san-antonio-emergency-texas-updates/273-c0c305ed-b1ed-4022-bd8a-ac764882e90e) that targeted dozens of US campuses.",
    "outcome": "Both swatting calls were determined to be unfounded. UTSA Police, San Antonio Police, and Bexar County Sheriff's deputies maintained an 'enhanced presence' on campus following the incident. No injuries, no weapons, and no shooter were found. The university subsequently increased police presence as a precaution. The incidents are believed to be part of the same nationwide swatting campaign that hit Auburn, Mercer, Texas Tech, NDSU, UGA, and other campuses that week.",
    "casualties": {
      "killed": 0,
      "injured": 0
    }
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestampApprox": "Tuesday evening, August 26, 2025",
      "channel": "sms",
      "verbatimText": "",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.tpr.org/news/2025-08-27/utsa-students-evacuated-from-on-campus-housing-following-hoax-threats",
      "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed from Texas Public Radio quoting UTSA Alert language ('an active/credible threat')",
      "annotations": []
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "update",
      "timestampApprox": "Approximately 15-20 minutes after the initial alert, Tuesday evening August 26, 2025",
      "channel": "sms",
      "verbatimText": "",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed from UTSA's official summary describing 'two emergency alerts' for the Main Building and campus housing",
      "annotations": []
    },
    {
      "sequence": 3,
      "type": "all-clear",
      "timestampApprox": "Approximately 19 minutes after the initial alert, Tuesday evening August 26, 2025",
      "channel": "twitter-x",
      "verbatimText": "Previous alerts of incidents on campus are not credible. Police presence increased as precaution. Resume normal activity.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://x.com/UTSA/status/1960544961402659202",
      "sourceDescription": "@UTSA on X (verbatim)",
      "annotations": [
        "Texas Public Radio quoted this message verbatim and specified it was sent 'nineteen minutes after that alert went out to students'",
        "Calling earlier alerts 'not credible' in the same channel that sent the warnings is unusual, most universities issue separate 'all-clear' messages without re-characterizing the original alert",
        "The 19-minute turnaround is fast for a swatting all-clear, likely because UTSA Police were already on-scene at both reported locations within minutes",
        "This same @UTSA all-clear post also appears in the archive's companion case on the housing evacuation (2025-08-26-utsa-swatting-housing-evacuation), which documents the same morning's events; one message resolved both reported incidents",
        "Corrected to exact fxtwitter display text."
      ],
      "characterCount": 121
    },
    {
      "sequence": 4,
      "type": "update",
      "timestamp": "2025-08-26T22:43:19-05:00",
      "channel": "twitter-x",
      "verbatimText": "UTSA Update: Earlier tonight, the university received two reports of threats against the campus. UTSA Police responded to both reports and, out of an abundance of caution, issued alerts to the campus community. Local law enforcement partners also responded.\n\nUpon investigation, both incidents were determined to be unfounded. Police will continue to maintain an enhanced presence on campus. Normal activities can resume.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://x.com/UTSA/status/1960548657968648193",
      "sourceDescription": "@UTSA on X (verbatim same-night update)",
      "annotations": [
        "Official same-night @UTSA cascade ~15 minutes after short all-clear; full narrative of two unfounded threat reports.",
        "Snowflake 1960548657968648193 → 2025-08-27T03:43:19Z (CDT evening Aug 26)."
      ],
      "characterCount": 421,
      "confidence": "high",
      "archiveUrl": null,
      "lastUpdated": "2026-07-18"
    }
  ],
  "context": "On Tuesday evening, August 26, 2025 (the second day of the fall semester) UTSA was [hit by two swatting calls in rapid succession](https://www.utsa.edu/today/2025/08/story/utsa-leadsership-respond-to-campus-alerts.html). The first call reported an incident at the Main Building on the Main Campus; the second reported a threat in campus housing. UTSA Police responded to both locations and issued emergency alerts to the campus community describing 'an active/credible threat.' Students were [briefly evacuated from on-campus housing](https://www.tpr.org/news/2025-08-27/utsa-students-evacuated-from-on-campus-housing-following-hoax-threats) as the university investigated. Nineteen minutes after the initial alert, UTSA sent a second message: \"Previous alerts of incidents on campus are not credible. Police presence increased as precaution. Resume normal activity.\" Both incidents were [determined to be unfounded](https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/public-safety/utsa-alert-students-san-antonio-emergency-texas-updates/273-c0c305ed-b1ed-4022-bd8a-ac764882e90e); UTSA leadership later said that 'as UTSA Police responded to these locations, two emergency alerts were made to the campus community.' Law enforcement maintained an 'enhanced presence' on campus afterward. The incident was part of the broader [August 2025 swatting wave](https://sanantonio.culturemap.com/news/city-life/swatting-attempts-rattle-utsa-students/) that targeted at least 22 US universities (many tied to the online group [Purgatory](https://www.kgns.tv/2025/08/27/utsa-students-receive-all-clear-regarding-threat/)) during the first two weeks of the academic year.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "UTSA's 19-minute resolution is among the fastest in the August 2025 swatting wave, reflecting both rapid on-scene response and growing pattern recognition by university police departments",
    "The pairing of a swatting call against the Main Building with a second call against campus housing is unusual, most hoaxes target a single building type, but a few campuses (e.g., NDSU, USC) saw similar two-location pairings",
    "Calling the earlier alerts 'not credible' in the same SMS channel that broadcast them was a notably transparent communications choice, in contrast to universities that issued generic all-clears without acknowledging the false alarm"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "UTSA updates campus community on Tuesday night emergency alerts (UTSA Today)",
      "url": "https://www.utsa.edu/today/2025/08/story/utsa-leadsership-respond-to-campus-alerts.html",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "UTSA students evacuated from on-campus housing following hoax threats (Texas Public Radio)",
      "url": "https://www.tpr.org/news/2025-08-27/utsa-students-evacuated-from-on-campus-housing-following-hoax-threats",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "'Not credible': UTSA issues all-clear after reports of threats on campus (KENS 5)",
      "url": "https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/public-safety/utsa-alert-students-san-antonio-emergency-texas-updates/273-c0c305ed-b1ed-4022-bd8a-ac764882e90e",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Swatting attempts rattle UTSA students as semester begins (CultureMap San Antonio)",
      "url": "https://sanantonio.culturemap.com/news/city-life/swatting-attempts-rattle-utsa-students/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "UTSA students receive all clear regarding threat (KGNS)",
      "url": "https://www.kgns.tv/2025/08/27/utsa-students-receive-all-clear-regarding-threat/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://x.com/UTSA/status/1960544961402659202",
      "title": "@UTSA on X",
      "type": "official-archive",
      "dateAccessed": "2026-07-18"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://x.com/UTSA/status/1960548657968648193",
      "title": "@UTSA same-night update (X)",
      "type": "official-social",
      "dateAccessed": "2026-07-18"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "high",
  "tags": [
    "swatting",
    "hoax",
    "texas",
    "san-antonio",
    "campus-housing",
    "main-building",
    "purgatory",
    "first-week-of-classes",
    "two-call-pairing"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-05-13",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-07-18",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}