As WLT Report previously reported, UMass Lowell declared a campus-wide lockdown on Wednesday after an alleged gunman was spotted on the university’s property.
A video of the potential gunman was uploaded on X.
Take a look:
BREAKING – Video shows an active shooter on UML’s South Campus in Lowell, Massachusetts with police searching for a 5’5 Asian male in a gray or white sweatshirt and black shorts carrying a long weapon. pic.twitter.com/hMdOHvx2DL
— Right Angle News Network (@Rightanglenews) September 3, 2025
Now, authorities have revealed the alleged gunman was just a juvenile with an airsoft gun.
ABC News reported more on the big misunderstanding:
An individual seen wielding what appeared to be a firearm near a Massachusetts university dormitory, prompting a shelter-in-place order and large law enforcement response, has been identified as a juvenile holding an airsoft replica firearm, police said Thursday.
The Lowell Police Department said it received a report of a person possibly armed with a gun on the University of Massachusetts Lowell’s campus just before 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, which marked the first day of classes for undergraduate students.
A video widely circulated online showed an individual walking with what appeared to be a firearm near a UMass Lowell dormitory on Wednesday.
The university issued a campus-wide shelter-in-place order and canceled classes and events for the rest of the day.
Multiple agencies responded, including local and state police, with the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also providing assistance. Officers searched the grounds and a drone, K9s and a police air unit were deployed.
The shelter-in-place was ultimately lifted shortly after 5:15 p.m. Wednesday when authorities “determined the suspect was no longer in the vicinity,” UMass Lowell said in a statement.
UPDATE: Police say the suspect who triggered UMass Lowell lockdown Wednesday was a juvenile with a airsoft rifle pic.twitter.com/uZmoJVJQjJ
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) September 4, 2025
In South Carolina, last week, another “active shooter” alert was found to be a hoax.
AFP reported more details:
Social media users, including Congresswoman Nancy Mace, claimed a video of a student walking across a footbridge showed a gunman roaming the University of South Carolina’s campus as an active shooter alert sent the school into panic. But the clip showed an innocent undergraduate carrying an umbrella, and the reports of an incident turned out to be false, part of a wave of “swatting” hoaxes that have targeted American universities as fall classes began in August 2025.
“Here is the alleged school shooter at USC — BOLO — white male, black shorts, grey tshirt, backpack,” Mace, a Republican congresswoman running for governor in the state of South Carolina, wrote in the since-deleted August 24, 2025 post, according to screenshots shared online.
University spokesman Jeff Stensland said in an August 25 update shared with AFP that university police rushed to the school’s library after fielding two calls that reported a shooter and included background sounds mimicking gunfire.
But after officers uncovered no threat, the university determined the calls to be a hoax.
Similar incidents of swatting — deliberately phoning in a false emergency to trigger a law enforcement response — targeted several other US universities in a span of days, according to campus alerts and school and police statements.
South Carolina police say there is no shooter on the campus of USC. The image shared by @NancyMace was obtained from X, and was of a student carrying an umbrella. The image was not released by law enforcement or an official authority, and could have resulted in him being killed. pic.twitter.com/TcKVcEdzOU
— Travis Akers 🇺🇸 (@travisakers) August 24, 2025
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