“All of us just froze:” SU Students Reflect on Campus Swatting Incidents

Graphics by Anabel Patino

On February 12, Syracuse University sophomore Keira Kapner’s policy studies class started like any other. As she settled into her seat, her professor told the class it would be a busy day—​​no stalling, no breaks, stay on topic, he said. Almost immediately after the professor’s announcement, Kapner saw a flood of ten to 20 cops barrelling up the stairs of SU’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

“All of us just froze,” Kapner said. “I didn’t know what to do; I was like, ‘we need to figure out how to close the blinds, we need to hide somewhere.’ But also I was frozen in place, I couldn’t move.”

With no communication from the Department of Public Safety about the flood of cops, Kapner’s professor moved the class along—business as usual. The class takes place in a Maxwell room called “the fishbowl,” a classroom covered by windows and situated between two offices in the policy studies suite. As time went on, Kapner’s classmates watched an officer approach a worried looking receptionist in one of the neighboring offices, tell her something, then leave. Finally, the receptionist came into the classroom to say the coast was clear. Clear of what, Kapner still didn’t know.

Kapner experienced the second of three swatting incidents at Maxwell within five consecutive days. The FBI defines swatting as calling in a fake emergency report to elicit a response from law enforcement. Since April 2023, SU has experienced five incidents of swatting—four false active shooters and one false bomb threat—reflecting national trends of increased swatting incidents within the past few years.

“It was just so surreal”: The swatting epidemic hits SU.

The FBI first recognized swatting in 2008, but didn’t begin data collection until May 2023. In the first nine months since data collection began, the FBI has tracked over 500 incidents in the U.S., although that may be an underestimate. Swatting is hard to track, partly because cases are often handled by local law enforcement agencies which may not accurately report numbers to the bureau, according to NPR’s domestic extremism correspondent Odette Yousef. Because systemized data collection began so recently, it’s hard to compare recent rates to past numbers. However, experts have noticed a growing number of swatting incidents, especially high-profile political figures in recent reports.

While the phenomenon started as an online gaming tactic, in which players would call 911 on their competitors during livestreams, it has transformed into a weapon of mass destruction. Incidents funnel money, resources and time into false reports, taking them away from real emergencies. Law enforcement officers often respond with weapons drawn, as they would to a verified threat. In 2019, a swatting call led police to shoot an innocent man at his home in Kansas. 

More recently, swatting has been used as a tool for political intimidation, with victims including U.S. representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene, Brandon Williams and former Gov. of South Carolina Nikki Haley. Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Donald Trump’s federal election interference case, and Judge Arthur Engoron, governing Trump’s civil trial in Manhattan, have also been targeted by these false threats.

Swatting hits a nerve in American schools and universities, where the threat of school shootings lingers. Since 2024 began, there have been at least 107 incidents of gunfire on American school grounds, including 29 deaths and 61 injuries. 

When you see police running into an academic building, it’s hard not to jump to conclusions, said SU sophomore Cailyn Thomas, who was in the same class as Kapner on February 12.

“It's anxiety-producing to be a student in America nowadays. It’s concerning to be in a classroom and see a bunch of cops; everybody knew what everybody was thinking,” ” she said. “We all stopped, nobody talked, it was like a minute’s worth of [silence] as we watched the cops run through the building—it was just so surreal.”

The swatting incident in February was a reminder that no place, not even SU, is immune to the threat of gun violence, Thomas said.

“When you’re at college, it’s such a bubble; you get caught up in your own world. But that was a reality check, a reminder that even though it may not have happened, it always could,” she said.

The threat of gun violence is so prevalent for American students that 95% of K-12 schools do active shooter drills, which mimic a school shooter scenario to prepare students  in case of emergency. SU, however, like most universities, does not run active shooter drills. In college, when students’ schedules change everyday and are vastly less structured than in lower education, there’s no set plan for what to do in an active shooter situation, Thomas said. So, as Thomas watched police officers storm into Maxwell in February, she waited for quick communication from DPS—but it didn’t come for 37 minutes.

“In college, the plan is that you trust those services to alert you.Then you can decide what you want to do in that situation,” she said. “ I saw the cops and I didn’t get an alert. In that moment you’re thinking, ‘I should already know this is happening.’”

When DPS sent out a statement via email almost 40 minutes later, the subject read, “Public Safety Informational Notice: FALSE active shooter report called in to law enforcement, confirmed to be FALSE.” The one paragraph message included a few brief details and a call to contact DPS with any related information. 

In these situations, responsiveness is key, said Erika Schneider, an SU public relations professor with a specialization in crisis communications.

“Crises are these moments of chaos, uncertainty, anxiety;. [they] come with a lot of negative emotions that it’s hard to think rationally in those moments,” she said. “Effective communication in these scenarios is going to help alleviate those negative emotions—communicating clearly, transparently, with factual information that's sourced properly, those are the most important parts, and empathy above all.” 

In emergency situations, DPS communicates with the campus community through its Orange Alert System, which informs students of threats via email, text messages, social media networks, sirens and phone calls, according to a DPS press release from April 2023. DPS only utilizes Orange Alerts when there is “an active or imminent threat of physical danger to our campus community,” because it will signal students to “take immediate action as directed.” If a threat is determined to be real, Orange Alert notifications are sent immediately. If a threat is deemed false, or before a threat under investigation is deemed valid, Orange Alert notifications are not sent and further communication is not immediate. 

However, word travels fast through social media, and students are usually informed of the threat by each other before DPS releases communication. During the swatting incident on April 9, 2023, DPS communicated with the campus community for the first time over an hour after the Syracuse Police Department was dispatched to the scene on College Place. The message from DPS was released via the social platform X, confirming the report to be false. However, students were already discussing the threat on YikYak and Groupme. The following day, DPS sent out a campus wide email confirming the threat to be false and providing some background on swatting and the Orange Alert System. 

The next incident occurred five days later, this time at Maxwell Hall. Students received a short email confirming the threat to be false and asking for any information related to the incident. According to the Daily Orange, DPS also released a statement through the Orange Safe app, although Kapner doesn’t remember receiving the notification. 

The next swatting call at SU—the first of three within one week—was almost a year later on February 11, 2024. Like deja vu, the threat was an active shooter at Maxwell and DPS sent a one paragraph email almost identical to the email sent the year before. 

On February 12, when Kapner and Thomas were in class, another active shooter report led DPS to storm Maxwell Hall. This time DPS sent out a short message deeming the threat to be false, followed by a longer email detailing “How DPS Communicates in the Event of an Imminent Threat to Public Safety.” The message notes that officers immediately respond to the reported location and respond as if it is a confirmed threat, even if it is predicted to be false. Once the threat is discredited, DPS will communicate with the campus community, according to the email. 

The most recent swatting incident occurred on February 16—this time a bomb threat. The email from DPS was again, short, telling the campus community the incident was under investigation and asking for any relevant information available. 

“Who are you protecting?”: Students want more from DPS communications.

In an unverified but potentially life threatening situation, transparency can be tricky, Schneider said. Premature communication can cause unnecessary mass panic if the threat is later deemed to be false. 

“Generally I’d say your ultimate goal is public well being—public safety, societal well being. You have to think about to what extent is transparency going to help the public’s well being versus hurt the public’s well being,” she said. “To some degree, should this be even reported at all to the audience? Are you going through the motions too quickly and releasing the information in a way that’s only going to make the problem worse because the nature of swatting comes down to trying to get publicity?”

However, in situations like those at Maxwell, where students are watching law enforcement officers storm into their building, communication is necessary for the community to feel safe, she said. 

“In crisis communications, there’s two dimensions of a response,” Schneider said. “One is to communicate in a way that’s empathizing with the victims, and two, [to] provide instructions on how to protect yourself.”

In the email following the swatting incident on February 12, DPS encouraged campus community members to review the “Run. Hide. Fight.” video, which encourages community members to run away from the threat if possible, hide out of the shooter's view and, as last resort, attempt to incapacitate the active shooter. The email ends with a statement saying DPS officers are “always available to discuss our processes, protocols and how we collaborate with local, state and federal law enforcement to keep our campus community safe.” 

However, DPS was only willing to answer Jerk’s questions via email. When asked about the specific protocols for verifying and responding to a credible threat, their response was, “DPS personnel are extensively trained to decipher the credibility of reports, however all calls are responded to as if a threat is present.” DPS did not answer any specific questions regarding any of the swatting incidents in February because they are still under investigation. They also would not provide a timeline of when the investigation was expected to conclude. When asked about the cases in April 2023, DPS said they were still under investigation as well. 

A lack of information, like the one DPS is currently maintaining, can open an organization up to scrutiny, Schneider said. 

“Since February there’s still a question mark,”  she said. “Credibility is something that every organization is trying to achieve, and when there’s so much unknown and so much under investigation they can't say, it can raise questions about if anything’s happening at all, or it can come down to [the] competency of the organization.”

DPS has historically had a tumultuous relationship with the campus community, most notably from their presence at #NotAgainSU protests in 2019 and 2020. While DPS is trying to strengthen their relationship with the community, such as through the Community Police Academy, the relationship between students and officers is still unstable. Kapner recalls being frustrated by how DPS officers handled the swatting incident on February 12.

“The fact that [the police] didn’t even come into our classroom, [when] they could obviously see us, to tell us to do anything or to tell us that the coast is clear—it was honestly annoying,” she said. “What are you guys protecting in this building if it’s not your students or your professors?” 

Thomas was also disappointed in DPS’ response, but noted that she feels safe on campus because of its presence. Both Kapner and Thomas agree they would like a form of emergency communication that informs them of a threat, even if proven false, so they can make their own decision on what to do. 

In emergency situations, whether real or false, autonomy is key, Schneider said, noting that communication providing instructions on how to protect yourself is crucial.

“[It’s] everything to make people feel like they have something they can do to protect themselves. Giving them the ability to facilitate something is better than anything,” she said.