In the latest incident in a string of false shooter alarms that have rocked colleges nationwide, an individual carrying a replica firearm at the University of Massachusetts Lowell last week triggered a campus-wide lockdown and prompted heavy police response.
On Sept. 3, the Lowell Police Department received reports of an individual possibly armed with a firearm. The suspect, a juvenile male, was since reported to have been carrying an airsoft replica weapon, which has been recovered.
“I would especially like to thank the residents of the affected neighborhood for their cooperation
and understanding while this incident unfolded,” Lowell Police Superintendent Greg Hudon said in a Sept. 4 press release.
The Pew Research Center reported the FBI found that active shooter incidents increased between 2000 and 2023. According to The Trace, as of Sept. 5, there were over 20 active shooting hoaxes on college campuses across 17 states in the past two weeks alone.
Ruth Zakarin, CEO of the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, said hoaxes, or false reports of shooters, can still be traumatizing for those involved.
“It’s not lost on me that this is how the school year is starting for way too many students, along with the fact that there was the shooting at the school in Minneapolis,” Zakarin said.
A gunman opened fire at a Catholic school in Minneapolis in August, injuring 18 and killing two children. Since the beginning of 2025, The K-12 School Shooting Database has recorded 146 incidents where a gun was fired, brandished with intent or a bullet struck school property.
Boston University sophomore Annika Zhang said she experienced campus lockdowns because of nearby active shooter threats in high school and elementary school..
“I was so scared during that time because they were like, ‘Run to the first classroom that you see,’” Zhang said. “I wasn’t sure [where to go] so I ran to a class, my class, and there was no teacher in there. So it was just all third graders, and people were crying.”
Zhang said if an active shooter situation were to occur on BU campus, she wants to know what BU’s procedure is.
“I want to be notified and know for sure that our school is able to take care of it [and] take action right away,” Zhang said.
The BUPD Safety on Campus webpage’s “Active Shooter” tab details how the department handles active shooter threats and what the community should do. These resources are also shared at first-year and transfer student orientations.
“It is a tragic comment on society that incidents happen, but I’ve seen the training our officers have gone through, and I’ve seen the material [put out by BUPD] and gone through it thoroughly,” BU Spokesperson Colin Riley said. “The safety videos are very helpful. I would encourage everyone to do that training.”
Riley said BUPD officers go through training for handling these kinds of situations, through both simulated and tabletop exercises.
“Fortunately, while we’re an open campus, we are sort of bounded by Brookline and Beacon Street and Storrow Drive and the Charles River, so we’re in a very safe part of a very safe city,” Riley said.
Beyond having a plan for how to respond to an active shooter threat, Zakarin said everyone involved should feel empowered to take action to stop incidents from occurring in the first place.
“If all we do is teach our children to bear the brunt of these shootings, then we have failed,” Zakarin said. “We have to come together as the adults in the room to figure it out. We know what works to stop gun violence. We just have to come together and actually make that happen.”
