College Officials Apologize After Sending False Alert About Active Shooter

A false alarm that warned more than 8,000 students, staff and even parents via text message about an active shooter on Montgomery College’s campus, sent the community into a panic until college officials said the message was a mistake.

College officials have apologized for the error and said the message was a template for alerts that a Montgomery College employee accidentally sent.

Following the incident, Marcus Rosano, spokesperson for Montgomery College, said officials have learned a lot in the last 24 hours about their procedures and need for training to prevent this from happening again.

“We are sorry that we frightened students and parents,” Rosano said. “We are working to restore confidence with our emergency information system to be delivered in a timely and accurate manner.”

Rosano said Montgomery College officials are taking a “deep dive” into the incident to figure out what went wrong and are planning to give more training to employees.

MC ALERT: ALL CLEAR. THERE IS NO ARMED PERSON. THE MESSAGE SENT WAS IN ERROR. THERE IS NO THREAT.

— Montgomery College (@montgomerycoll) February 7, 2018

About Mitti Hicks

Mitti Hicks is a multimedia journalist and community engagement specialist with Montgomery Community Media. She is passionate about telling stories that impact our community and may be reached at MHicks@mymcmedia.org and on Twitter @mittimegan.

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