Austin Community College police have arrested a 48-year-old man they say phoned in a false active-threat report near the Eastview campus, prompting a multi-agency emergency response before officers determined there was no real danger. The college identified the man as Victor Ramirez and said he has no affiliation with ACC.
What ACC Says Happened
According to CBS Austin, ACC said the false call came in near the Eastview campus at about 10 a.m. Tuesday, prompting Austin police and fire crews to respond alongside ACC police. The college said Ramirez was arrested for false report to a peace officer, a Class B misdemeanor, and for possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor, according to the same report.
ACC said a separate 911 call around 11 a.m. that same day complicated the response: the caller gave the wrong address, which initially sent officers to ACC's Highland campus before they could confirm the address was incorrect, per the outlet's reporting. The college said Ramirez is not affiliated with ACC, and that there was no active incident or emergency at any of its campuses, with all locations remaining secure and fully operational, the station reported.
Part of a Wider Pattern of Campus Hoaxes
Swatting calls targeting college campuses have become a recurring problem nationally. CNN reported that over a 10-day stretch, more than a dozen college campuses were targeted by similar false active-shooter reports, part of what the network described as a broader wave of coordinated hoax calls. A separate analysis by The Trace found at least 22 swatting hoaxes at American colleges during a single stretch spanning late August and early September, and the K-12 School Shooting Database tracked 853 swatting incidents nationwide between January 2023 and June 2024.
Texas has seen its own cluster of these incidents. In April 2023, Texas A&M Police said a reported active shooter at the university's Health Science Center was a hoax, stating plainly that there was no threat to campus, according to KBTX. That same day, the outlet reported hoax calls had also come in to Baylor University, Collin College's Plano campus, Texas Wesleyan University, Del Mar College and the Galen College of Nursing in San Antonio.
Legal Exposure for False Reports
Texas law treats knowingly false emergency reports as a criminal offense. Under Texas Penal Code section 42.06, a person commits an offense if they knowingly initiate, communicate or circulate a report of a bombing, fire, offense or other emergency that they know is false or baseless, according to the Texas Constitution and Statutes. The statute sets out misdemeanor and felony penalties and includes an exception for false reports involving higher-education institutions.
ACC said its campuses remained secure and fully operational.
