University Of Arkansas Active Shooter Hoax dominated feeds on Monday, August 25, 2025, after a mid-day campus text alert warned of an “active shooter” near the University of Arkansas’ Mullins Library. Within hours, police briefings and local reporting converged on a critical fact: no evidence of shots fired, no injuries, and no arrests.
Still, thousands of students and families spent the afternoon cycling through fear, rumors, and lockdown instructions. Below, we lay out the verified timeline, what authorities actually found, and how this fits into a growing national wave of campus “swatting” calls.
What the university told the campus — and when
At 12:27 p.m. local time, Arkansas sent a RazALERT instructing community members to avoid Mullins Library using the “Avoid. Deny. Defend.” active threat language. Multiple outlets confirmed the timestamp and the exact wording, and the university’s official X post amplified the message as officers converged on the library and adjacent buildings.
What police found
Through the afternoon, the University of Arkansas Police Department (UAPD), Fayetteville Police, and other agencies searched buildings, evacuated spaces, and interviewed witnesses. By late day, UAPD Assistant Chief Matt Mills told reporters there was no evidence of gunfire or injuries and no arrests.
An “after action” debrief followed to review the multi-agency response and communication flow. Axios Northwest Arkansas summarized those key points from the evening briefing.
How the rumor mill exploded
Even as officers cleared rooms, calls kept coming. UAPD and local media tallied 308 landline calls to campus phones and more than 30 calls to 911 reporting a shooter, with some callers claiming they heard shots or saw a suspect in multiple buildings.
That torrent of contradictory tips is textbook “swatting”: a flood of false reports designed to trigger a large police response and sow panic. KHBS/KHOG (40/29 News) and KATV captured both the volume and the hoax assessment from UAPD.
What changed by late afternoon
By around 4 p.m., coverage from national and local outlets aligned around the same conclusion: no shooter, no confirmed victims, and campus operations shifting to a cautious recovery posture (some classes canceled, services limited, per local updates). People’s national recap also noted multiple agencies’ sweep and the decision to lift emergency protocols while continuing to follow leads.
How this fits a national pattern
Arkansas’ scare didn’t happen in isolation. Over the past week, multiple U.S. campuses faced similar hoaxes. Villanova University endured two separate false “active shooter” reports that locked down parts of campus and were later branded a “cruel hoax” by officials. The University of South Carolina issued and then lifted an alert the night before Arkansas, later confirming a swatting hoax.
These incidents are part of a broader surge of false reports at universities as fall term begins. ABC News and Axios documented the Villanova and USC episodes, and Campus Safety Magazine compiled a running list that now includes Arkansas among several campuses targeted on Aug. 25.
Sorting signal from noise in real time
On days like this, timelines fracture. Inside buildings, students hear sirens and see officers with long guns. Outside, parents doomscroll conflicting posts—some accurate, some not. In Fayetteville, several social accounts asserted “shots fired,” “multiple suspects,” or described unrelated vehicles as suspicious.
Those details did not survive contact with verified reporting. Arkansas’ experience underscores a hard truth of modern crisis media: primary sources and official briefings are the anchor, not viral claims. Axios’ evening readout and local broadcast pressers carried the facts; the swirl around them, less so.
What RazALERT is designed to do
RazALERT is Arkansas’ mass-notification system for immediate threats. When UAPD receives a report that could indicate an active assailant, policy is to alert first, then investigate and refine. That’s by design—seconds matter. The university’s safety page explains that RazALERT pushes to campus landlines, emails, and registered mobile numbers, and is used for violent threats and weather alike.
If your student didn’t receive Monday’s text, check enrollment settings and contact preferences on the official site. (Here’s the university’s explainer on how RazALERT works.) Learn about RazALERT from the University of Arkansas.
Verified timeline (all times local, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025)
- 12:27 p.m. — RazALERT warns of a reported active shooter near Mullins Library, instructing “Avoid. Deny. Defend.”
- ~12:30 p.m.–3:30 p.m. — Multiple agencies respond; buildings are searched and evacuated; calls continue to pour in, including to seven buildings.
- Late afternoon — Police tell media they have no confirmation of gunshots or injuries and have made no arrests.
- Evening — University lifts emergency posture; classes for the remainder of the day are canceled; follow-up and debrief begin.
Why false reports are spiking (and why they’re dangerous)
“Swatting” isn’t new, but universities—dense, open, and reliant on public alerting—are soft targets for hoaxers. The tactic overwhelms 911 centers, stretches police resources across multiple buildings, and amplifies fear via social media. In Villanova’s back-to-back hoaxes last week, officials detailed the speed and scale of the response; USC’s weekend scare followed the same pattern.
Campus Safety Magazine and Inside Higher Ed both tracked Monday’s broader list, which included Arkansas alongside Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas State, New Hampshire, and Northern Arizona. The through line: big early responses, zero evidence of gunfire.
How to read and react to a campus active-threat alert
Avoid. Move away from the reported location if it’s safe to do so—don’t crowd the scene because “nothing looks wrong.” Deny. If you’re inside a building near the alert zone, lock or block doors, silence devices, and plan secondary exits. Defend. If the threat is imminent and you cannot escape, be ready to fight back using improvised tools and teamwork.
This language is intentionally simple; it maps to national ALERRT guidance adopted by many campuses. In Monday’s case, following “Avoid. Deny. Defend.” kept hallways clear for officers as they verified there was no actual shooter.
Frequently asked (and answered) questions
“Did anyone fire a gun?”
Police and the university say no evidence of shots was found; there were also no confirmed injuries from gunfire.
“Were people detained?”
Several individuals were briefly detained amid the chaos, a standard step when officers are chasing multiple, conflicting suspect descriptions. They were released; officials announced no arrests.
“Was it definitely a hoax?”
UAPD’s assistant chief called it “another swatting or hoax call,” and the call volume plus absence of evidence supports that assessment. Final determinations come after digital forensics and 911-audio review, which can take days.
“Why send an all-campus alert before confirming?”
Because alerting is about life safety first. Policy says notify fast when a report meets threshold, then refine and stand down if the threat isn’t real. The alternative—waiting for certainty—can cost precious minutes.
Misinformation watch: what to ignore next time
Several viral posts during the Arkansas scare claimed “multiple gunmen,” “confirmed casualties,” and intricate suspect details. None of those claims were substantiated in the evening briefing or verified local coverage.
In real time, prioritize: (1) official alerts, (2) police press conferences, (3) reputable local outlets who are on-scene. In the Arkansas case, Axios NW Arkansas, 40/29 News, and KATV provided the most consistent facts as they were confirmed.
For parents and families watching from afar
One reason Monday felt so harrowing: it arrived during the first days of the semester, when many first-years are on campus for the first time. Police emphasized in their briefing that the visual scale of the response—long guns, tactical vests, multiple agencies—is by design to maximize safety.
The lack of confirmed gunfire is good news, not evidence that the response was excessive. As one official put it in the evening debrief, the goal is for students and parents to see that safety is the priority, even when the threat proves unfounded.
What schools can learn from Aug. 25
Every hoax is still a drill with consequences. The Arkansas after-action will likely review: (1) speed and clarity of RazALERT messaging, (2) building access controls during sweeps, (3) cross-agency radio interoperability, and (4) rumor-control in the first hour. For students, the takeaway is simple: update your notification info, practice “Avoid, Deny, Defend,” and resist boosting unconfirmed posts.
For administrators, benchmarking against institutions hit earlier in the week (Villanova, USC) can strengthen decision trees and rumor management.
The bottom line
Monday’s university of arkansas active shooter hoax was a high-stress, high-noise episode that ended with relief: no shots, no injuries, no suspect at large. The response did exactly what it’s designed to do—warn fast, mobilize broadly, and stand down once evidence says the threat wasn’t real.
As “swatting” calls rise nationally, the best defense is a practiced campus community, a disciplined information diet, and a mass-notification system that reaches everyone in seconds.
