A concerning report of a possible shooter and hostage situation created chaos at Claremont McKenna College in Southern California.
According to NewsNation, the incident was later confirmed to be a "swatting call" - a dangerous prank where false emergency reports trigger massive law enforcement response, marking the second such occurrence in the region this week.
The incident began when a caller claimed to be holding someone captive in a campus restroom while threatening to detonate a bomb and shoot people on sight. Law enforcement agencies quickly responded to the threat, leading to widespread panic and disruption of normal campus activities.
Multiple police departments, including Claremont, La Verne, Ontario, and Upland, established a secure perimeter around the college campus.
SWAT teams arrived at the scene with specialized equipment, including a Bearcat vehicle, while officers conducted thorough building searches. Students received emergency text alerts warning them about the potential shooter and instructing them to seek shelter immediately.
The dramatic scene unfolded as students were escorted out of campus buildings with their hands on their heads. Law enforcement officers conducted careful searches of individuals before allowing them to return to certain areas. Evening classes were canceled as the situation continued to develop.
One student named Gabe described his experience during the incident:
I was just doing some homework, I have a paper due and I just get a text 'potential shooter.' I look out the window, SWAT teams, cops and it said you got to get off campus, get to safety and lock the doors. We just started going away from campus.
The Claremont McKenna College incident follows a similar swatting call made just one day earlier at Loma Linda University Children's Hospital.
These false alarms create dangerous situations for both civilians and emergency responders while wasting valuable law enforcement resources. The pattern suggests a concerning trend of swatting incidents targeting educational and healthcare facilities in Southern California.
The caller's specific threats demonstrated a calculated attempt to provoke maximum emergency response. The police statement revealed the caller's detailed claims:
The caller told dispatch that they were in a restroom at Claremont McKenna College Campus, holding someone captive and threatening to harm them. They also stated that they had a bomb and we're going to walk around with a rifle and shoot anyone they saw on the campus.
Law enforcement maintained their protective presence for approximately two hours before determining the threat was not credible. The all-clear signal was eventually given, and the shelter-in-place order was lifted, allowing the campus community to resume normal activities.
A malicious swatting call targeting Claremont McKenna College in Southern California triggered an extensive emergency response and campus lockdown. The incident, which occurred on Thursday, involved a caller falsely claiming to be holding hostages while threatening to detonate explosives and shoot people on campus.
After a two-hour deployment of multiple law enforcement agencies and SWAT teams, officials confirmed the threat was a dangerous hoax, marking the second such incident in the region following a similar false alarm at Loma Linda University Children's Hospital the previous day.
