University Police are investigating the source of false reports of a person with a gun on campus that spread through the UB community Sunday afternoon.
UPD believes the rumors were started via text messages and are investigating the phone numbers associated with those messages, UB spokesperson John Della Contrada told The Spectrum. Police responded to the locations mentioned in the texts and determined that the reports were “false and unfounded,” but rumors of an armed individual on campus spread to social media shortly thereafter.
Police received several “calls of concern” from individuals who’d heard the rumors. Those calls stopped coming in after officials issued a UB Alert informing UB community members that the reports were false at around 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
UPD will be increasing patrols on all three campuses “out of an abundance of caution,” according to a statement.
Grant Ashley is the managing editor and can be reached at grant.ashley@ubspectrum.com
Grant Ashley is the editor in chief of The Spectrum. He's also reported for NPR, WBFO, WIVB and The Buffalo News. He enjoys taking long bike rides, baking with his parents’ ingredients and recreating Bob Ross paintings in crayon. He can be found on the platform formerly known as Twitter at @Grantrashley.
