Montgomery College students received a text message a little after 1 p.m. on Wednesday warning them of an armed person on campus and instructing them to take cover. However, within minutes, the school quickly notified students that the message was sent in error and there was no threat.
The text that was sent out did not specify a location, and instead said “armed person at [insert name] campus.”
According to Marcus Rosano, Montgomery College Media Relations director, the false alarm was due to “human error.”
The campus uses a system called Rave, which provides templates for various alerts, such as inclement weather or, in this case, an armed individual. One of the templates, Rosano said, was sent out accidentally.
The school says that public safety was immediately notified of the error and the all-clear message was sent out at 1:09 p.m.
This false alarm comes just weeks after an alert was sent to Hawaiian residents, warning of an incoming missile. And just Tuesday, an alert warning of a potential tsunami was sent to major East Coast cities, including Tampa and New York. Both alerts were quickly disputed as false alarms.
