Hoax calls falsely report shootings at Texas Wesleyan, Collin College Plano, other schools
Several college campuses across Texas, including Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth and Collin College in Plano, received hoax calls falsely reporting mass shootings on Thursday morning, according to police and school officials.
At Texas Wesleyan, a university spokeswoman said, police received a call about 9:05 a.m. from someone claiming that multiple people had been shot in a lab on campus. The university sent an emergency alert to students and staff to shelter in place.
When Fort Worth officers arrived and began clearing buildings, they learned that the lab number given by the caller didn’t exist. The call was soon traced to a scam number and the all-clear was given.
“We want to commend our safety and security team for taking swift action in notifying the TXWES community and responding in a timely manner,” Texas Wesleyan said in a statement on social media.
There was never an actual threat to campus. At that time, the shelter-in-place was lifted after the all-clear was given by FWPD.
We want to commend our safety and security team for taking swift action in notifying the TXWES community and responding in a timely manner.— Texas Wesleyan (@TexasWesleyan) April 13, 2023
A hoax call also came in to the 911 center in Plano at about 9:45 a.m. falsely reporting there was an active shooter at the Collin College Plano campus, according to Plano police.
“Plano Police and Fire-Rescue response was swift,” Plano police said in a statement. “It was quickly determined to be a false call.”
Classes were scheduled to resume on the Plano campus at 1 p.m. Thursday, but officials later said classes won’t resume until Friday.
A Plano police officer accidentally fired a gun inside a campus building while responding to the call, but no one was injured, according to an email from the community college district’s president.
We had a HOAX call come into our 9-1-1 center at approximately 9:45 am that a mass shooting had occurred at Collin College Plano campus. Plano Police and Fire-Rescue response was swift. It was quickly determined to be a false call.
— Plano Police (Texas) (@PlanoPoliceDept) April 13, 2023
Other colleges that reported receiving similar calls on Thursday included Baylor University in Waco, Texas A&M University in College Station, Del Mar College Heritage Campus in Corpus Christi, Galen College of Nursing in San Antonio and Tyler Junior College in Tyler.
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