CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW)- An emailed bomb threat forced the University of Virginia to evacuate both Shannon and Clemons Library on Friday morning, before a search by police found no explosive devices present at either site, the university announced.
The threat has been determined to be hoax, “possibly linked to a series of similar threats sent to Virginia college Friday,” according to the school.
A bomb threat was reported in the vicinity of Shannon Library at 160 McCormick Road on Grounds, according to the UVA Department of Safety and Security.
UVA announced the threat at 10:49 a.m. By 11:16 a.m., the school said both libraries were being evacuated and police were on the scene investigating.
At 1:42 p.m., UVA announced that no explosives were found and issued an all-clear and the libraries reopened.
This is the second emergency alarm at the library in the last five months. On Nov. 3, a UVA alert sent out at 3:04 p.m. reported “an active attacker with a gun reported in (the) area of Shannon Library.” It urged the community to “run, hide, fight.”
But 30 minutes later, after police responded, the school announced there was “no evidence of an attacker,” and at 4:43 the university issued an all-clear.
UVA police Chief Tim Longo later classified the incident as a swatting hoax.
These bomb hoaxes Friday come a day after a campus shooting at Old Dominion killed a Charlottesville High School graduate and injured two other people. The gunmen, a former National Guardsman convicted in 2016 of assisting the terrorist group ISIS, was killed at the scene by ODU students who subdued him.
