Claremont McKenna College was thrown into a state of emergency on Thursday when a serious threat was reported and subsequently locked down the campus. A "swatting call" claiming an armed individual was holding a hostage and possessed a bomb, led to a swift law enforcement response and a shelter in place order for the student body. "The caller told dispatch that they were in a restroom at Claremont McKenna College Campus, holding someone captive and threatening to harm them," officials with the Claremont Police Department revealed in a press release, "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," as reported by KTLA. This led to the deployment of law enforcement to the scene, including a SWAT BearCat vehicle, and an aerial view captured by Sky5 showing students being evacuated from campus buildings.
As the college community received urgent notification of a potential shooter at 4:55 p.m., anxiety gripped students and faculty, some running towards Harvey Mudd College for refuge while others, stalled initially by the chaos were redirected by Campus Security at Claremont McKenna College which is one of the five Claremont Colleges, located at 888 N. Columbia Avenue, as per CBS Los Angeles.
Campus police signaled the all-clear roughly two hours later, around 7:30 p.m., confirming the situation to be a hoax, following extensive police searches that uncovered no evidence of a threat, as detailed by NBC Los Angeles.
