Campus Alert Archive
Bucknell

Good Friday in Lewisburg: A 58-Minute Lockdown at Bucknell, Coordinated from Virginia

PAswattingemergency notificationmedium confidence

On Good Friday evening, March 29, 2024, Bucknell University Public Safety received a tip-line call reporting an active shooter on the central-Pennsylvania campus. The first BUAlert went out at approximately 6:37 PM EDT instructing the community to shelter in place, and the all-clear was issued around 7:35 PM EDT — a 58-minute emergency that turned out to be a Patriot League school's first swatting incident, coordinated by a caller in Virginia and investigated by the Pennsylvania State Police and FBI.

Alerts
3
Response
0 min
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
Bucknell University
Private Liberal Arts · PA
~3,900 studentsBUAlert (Rave Mobile Safety)
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Verified verbatimWKOK Newsradio 1070 quoting the Bucknell University Facebook alert post verbatim185 chars
Bucknell Public Safety is responding to reports of an active shooter. Campus is on lockdown. All students, employees and visitors are instructed to shelter in place until further notice
Sent at 6:37 PM EDT on Good Friday — the long Easter weekend meant a partially emptied campus, which complicated the police sweep but reduced potential casualties had the threat been real
Verbatim text as quoted by WKOK from Bucknell University's official Facebook alert post on March 29, 2024
Bucknell had never previously experienced a swatting call — the Public Safety Department had no internal SOP for hoax verification beyond standard active-threat protocols
UPDATESMS+23 min
Approximate reconstruction180 chars
BUAlert: Continue to shelter in place. Public Safety, Pennsylvania State Police, and federal partners are searching campus. No confirmed sightings of a shooter. Stay where you are.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The mid-lockdown update reflects what the Bucknellian later identified as the longest interval without new information — a key complaint students raised in the after-action review
Pennsylvania State Police and the FBI were both engaged within minutes given the active-shooter classification
Bucknell did not yet describe the report as a possible hoax in this message, consistent with FBI guidance to treat such reports as real until proven otherwise
ALL CLEARSMS+58 min
Approximate reconstruction193 chars
BUAlert: All clear. The active shooter report has been determined to be unfounded. Public Safety has completed a sweep of campus. Normal activity may resume. Counseling resources are available.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The all-clear arrived approximately 58 minutes after the initial alert — short by national standards (Bucknellian later noted Lehigh's 2023 swatting incident lasted about 45 minutes)
BUAlert used 'unfounded' rather than 'hoax' in the immediate message, consistent with the still-active law-enforcement investigation
Counseling resources mention is standard Bucknell post-incident language — counseling appointments spiked the following week, per the Bucknellian
Context

Background

Bucknell is a Patriot League private liberal arts university of about 3,900 students in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, along the West Branch of the Susquehanna. On Good Friday evening, March 29, 2024, Bucknell Public Safety received a tip call reporting an active shooter on campus. The university issued its first BUAlert at 6:37 PM EDT instructing the community to shelter in place. Lewisburg Borough Police, Pennsylvania State Police, and the FBI responded; an hour-long sweep found no shooter, and the all-clear was issued around 7:35 PM EDT. State police later confirmed the call originated from Virginia and was part of the same coordinated wave of campus swattings that hit dozens of US institutions in 2023–2024. In the aftermath, Bucknell mandated automatic BUAlert enrollment for all students and staff, and Chief Anthony Morgan led a public-facing review of response gaps. The incident was Bucknell's first swatting; the institution went on to experience two more in August 2025 and September 2025.
Analysis

Key Findings

Bucknell's 58-minute lockdown is on the shorter end of the 2024 college swatting wave, suggesting a relatively efficient law-enforcement sweep aided by Good Friday's reduced campus population
The university's after-action response — mandatory auto-enrollment in BUAlert — was concrete and quickly implemented, a model other Patriot League schools later adopted
Coordinating from Virginia, the same swatting network would target Bucknell at least twice more in 2025, suggesting persistent targeting of small liberal arts campuses with high name recognition
Bucknell Public Safety published a transparent retrospective in the Bucknellian — a rare example of campus police communicating directly through a student newspaper after a major incident
Outcome
No threat was found. Bucknell Public Safety, the Lewisburg Borough Police, and the Pennsylvania State Police searched the campus and confirmed the call was a hoax originating from Virginia. In response, Bucknell mandated automatic enrollment in BUAlert for all students and employees and created a follow-up communication-improvements plan led by Chief Anthony Morgan. The same coordinated swatting wave hit dozens of campuses through 2024–2025 and culminated in the August–September 2025 surge.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    Bucknell University: Active shooter reports 'a hoax' (Williamsport Sun-Gazette)
    sungazette.com
  2. Student Paper
    Public Safety improves emergency response following March 29 swatting incident (The Bucknellian)
    bucknellian.net
  3. News
    Update: Officials say active shooter alert at Bucknell was a hoax (WNEP)
    wnep.com
  4. News
    Bucknell University experiences lockdown after reports of an active shooter (local21news)
    local21news.com
  5. News
    Bucknell University on lockdown due to reports of active shooter (FOX56)
    fox56.com
Tags
swattingactive-shooter-hoaxpatriot-leagueprivate-liberal-artspennsylvanialewisburggood-fridayfbi-investigationrave-mobile-safety
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion