The University of Florida is on high alert Wednesday morning after a threat on Twitter.
The university’s police department is taking the threat seriously despite the fact it’s rumored to be a hoax. They have sent out an alert.
Students are advised to stay alert and report any suspicious activity to police, of whomo are working with the FBI to see who sent to the tweet.
The tweet, which is now deleted, read “I’m going to shoot up the school,” and was sent to the @GatorZoneNews handle.
The school sent out the following statement.
The University of Florida Police Department (UFPD) was notified of the following information regarding a general threat made against the University of Florida campus Tuesday, December 2, 2014. Due to the nature of the threat, the UFPD is providing this Timely Warning.
The UFPD was alerted by staff from the University Athletic Association (UAA) that messages threatening campus safety were posted on social media via Twitter. The messages were received from 15 separate account holders from throughout the United States and all arrived at the same time. The threat was not specific but indicated “Im gonna shoot up the college tomorrow”. The UFPD is also aware that at least one other university has received a similar threat that involved the use of a social media posting that ultimately was determined to be a hoax.
Despite the fact that this threat is general in nature and the credibility of the threat is considered to be low at this time, the UFPD considers all threats of this nature very serious. As part of the on-going investigation into this incident, the UFPD is using Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) resources in an attempt to determine those responsible.
If you have any information regarding this incident, please contact the UFPD at 352.392.1111
If you observe any suspicious person or activity, immediately contact law enforcement by calling 9.1.1.
The threat comes two weeks after rival university, Florida State University, was attacked by a gunman.