Threatening emails sent overnight to University of Utah campus offices appear to be a swatting incident, according to officials, and the university's Department of Public Safety says it believes a single person is responsible for sending them. Police are now investigating a potential suspect as the Salt Lake City campus works to determine exactly what triggered the alarming messages.
The emails were sent to University of Utah campus offices overnight, and officials say they appear to be a swatting incident, according to FOX 13 News Utah. The university's Department of Public Safety is monitoring the emails and has said it believes they came from a single individual, though police have not disclosed further details about the person under investigation.
Swatting refers to the deliberate and malicious act of reporting a false crime or emergency in order to provoke an aggressive law-enforcement response, according to adl.org. The University of Utah has defined the practice similarly, describing it as a hazardous form of harassment involving a false report or threat targeted at a specific individual, organization, or location. Such hoaxes can pull first responders away from genuine emergencies, potentially putting targets, officers, and other community members at risk, per the same nonprofit's explainer.
A Campus Already on Edge Over Social Media Posts
The threatening emails land as the University of Utah has been dealing with a separate controversy involving alleged threatening social media posts made by two students. Some people claimed the students' posts amounted to doxxing, adding another layer of tension to an already strained few days on campus. On September 17, the university dismissed its inquiry into one student's social media post and also refuted rumors that either student faced expulsion.
It remains unclear whether that social media controversy is connected in any way to the threatening emails now being scrutinized as a possible swatting attempt. No evidence ties the two incidents together, and the university's public safety department has framed the email matter as its own distinct inquiry.
Part of a Wider Pattern Hitting College Campuses
Swatting incidents at colleges and universities have become an increasingly common and disruptive problem nationwide. Just this past January, at least four college campuses received swatting calls in a single day — false reports of active or impending threats meant to disrupt operations and provoke a heavy police response, according to Inside Higher Ed. Villanova University, outside Philadelphia, closed its campus entirely and canceled all activities after officials there received what they described as a threat of violence targeted at an academic building. Alcorn State University in Mississippi locked down over a safety threat that was cleared several hours later, while Wiley University in Texas locked down over an email threat and lifted it by noon. Bishop State Community College in Mobile, Alabama, evacuated its campus and shifted classes online after a threatening email, an incident that also triggered a lockdown at a nearby elementary school.
Inside Higher Ed's reporting also noted that colleges and universities across the country experienced a wave of swatting incidents in August that was later claimed by an extremist group. A similar case unfolded at the University of Iowa, where some offices briefly locked down after an employee received a concerning email, according to WQAD. Investigators there linked the email to a known swatting tactic already under investigation by other agencies, and police determined there was no credible threat. A campus-wide Hawk Alert was not issued because officials had not confirmed a threat to the broader community, though the station reported that affected offices locked down out of caution while law enforcement investigated.
Why Tracking the Problem Is Difficult
The true scope of swatting nationally is hard to pin down. The FBI does not track swatting as a distinct category of crime, meaning the actual number of incidents each year is unknown, per adl.org. A former FBI agent has estimated that cases jumped from roughly 400 in 2011 to more than 1,000 by 2019, a trend that has only intensified as campuses across the country continue to grapple with copycat threats and hoax calls.
The FBI has also described how perpetrators use technology to make emergency calls appear as though they are coming from a victim's own phone, according to fbi.gov, a tactic that complicates efforts by investigators to quickly trace the source of a threat. For now, University of Utah officials say their Department of Public Safety continues to monitor the emails sent to campus offices as police pursue leads on a potential suspect.
