Campus Alert Archive
CSU

A 911 Hoax About the University Student Center Locked Down Ohio's Public HBCU and Ended in a Saturday-Morning Arrest for Making False Alarms

OHswattingemergency notificationmedium confidence
Confirmed HoaxDetermined to be a hoax. The institutional response is documented because it reveals how the alert system performed under a perceived real threat.

On Saturday, June 11, 2022 at approximately 8:25 a.m. EDT, Central State University — Ohio's public HBCU in Wilberforce — received a 911 call reporting an active shooter at the cafeteria of the University Student Center. CSU Police activated the campus-wide Emergency Alerts System around 9 a.m. EDT and placed the campus on lockdown. The lockdown was lifted around 11:48 a.m. EDT after a search produced no evidence of a shooter. A 24-year-old man named Kual Bak was taken into custody and charged with Making False Alarms after officers located him hiding in a women's bathroom.

Alerts
3
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
Central State University
Hbcu · OH
~4,500 studentsMarauder Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence

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
Approximate reconstruction201 chars
CSU Emergency Alert: Active shooter reported at the University Student Center. Lock down. Stay inside. Lock doors, turn off lights, stay away from windows. Do not leave the building. Police responding.

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

Per Dayton Daily News and WHIO reporting, CSU Police activated the campus-wide emergency alert system around 9 a.m. EDT after receiving the ~8:25 a.m. EDT 911 call from Greene County dispatch
The Saturday-morning timing (early morning on a summer weekend) meant a relatively low active-occupancy moment on campus, but CSU still has summer-session students and live-on residents
Central State is the only public HBCU in Ohio and is located in the small village of Wilberforce, adjacent to private Wilberforce University
The 911 call specifically named the cafeteria of the University Student Center, which is consistent with the geographic specificity that has characterized 2022's HBCU swatting wave
UPDATESMS
Approximate reconstruction234 chars
CSU Emergency Alert: Lockdown remains in effect while CSU Police, Greene County Sheriff, and Ohio State Highway Patrol search the University Student Center and surrounding buildings. No injuries reported. Continue to shelter in place.

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

CSU Police, Greene County Sheriff's deputies, and Ohio State Highway Patrol all responded — a multi-agency posture standard for active-shooter calls in rural Ohio
The 'no injuries reported' phrasing was important: well into the search, the absence of injured students or witnesses was beginning to suggest the call was a hoax
Wilberforce University, which shares a small village with Central State, was not placed on lockdown — a notable contrast with the AUC cascade pattern in Atlanta
ALL CLEARSMS
Approximate reconstruction223 chars
CSU Emergency Alert: The lockdown has been LIFTED. There was no active shooter. A person of interest has been taken into custody. Normal operations resume. Thank you for your cooperation. Counseling resources are available.

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

Per CSU Police Chief Stephanie Hill, a person of interest — later identified as 24-year-old Kual Bak — was taken into custody and charged with Making False Alarms; officers located him hiding in a women's bathroom on campus
The all-clear came roughly two hours and 48 minutes after the alert activation (9:00 a.m. EDT → 11:48 a.m. EDT), reflecting a methodical building search of the Student Center and surrounding buildings
Central State's response — multi-agency search, in-custody resolution, and successful suspect identification — was later cited as a comparatively well-executed swatting response
Context

Background

Central State University is Ohio's only public HBCU, located in the small village of Wilberforce, Greene County, adjacent to the private HBCU Wilberforce University. On the morning of Saturday, June 11, 2022, at approximately 8:25 a.m. EDT, CSU Police received a 911 call from Greene County dispatch reporting an active shooter at the cafeteria of the University Student Center. The university's police department activated the campus-wide emergency alert system around 9 a.m. EDT, and the CSU Emergency Alert System issued shelter-in-place messages. CSU Police, Greene County Sheriff's Office, and Ohio State Highway Patrol conducted a sweep of the Student Center and surrounding buildings. At approximately 11:48 a.m. EDT — more than two and a half hours after the alert — CSU released a statement declaring the campus clear and safe, and CSU Police Chief Stephanie Hill announced that a person of interest was in custody. The 911 caller, identified as 24-year-old Kual Bak and located hiding in a women's bathroom on campus, was later charged with Making False Alarms. The incident occurred during a year in which dozens of HBCUs received bomb threats and active-shooter hoaxes, and it is significant to the campus alert archive because it documents a successful identification and charging of a swatting caller — an outcome that did not occur in many of the 2022 HBCU bomb-threat cases. Notably, neighboring Wilberforce University was not placed on lockdown despite the institutions sharing a single small village, a contrast with the cascading-lockdown pattern seen at the Atlanta University Center consortium.
Analysis

Key Findings

CSU Police identified and charged the 911 caller (24-year-old Kual Bak) with Making False Alarms — a comparatively rare successful prosecution outcome in the 2022 HBCU swatting wave
The lockdown lasted approximately two hours and 48 minutes, from the ~9:00 a.m. EDT alert activation to the ~11:48 a.m. EDT all-clear statement
The suspect was located hiding in a women's bathroom on campus, an unusual identification posture in a swatting case — most swatting callers phone in remotely
Multi-agency response included CSU Police, Greene County Sheriff's Office, and Ohio State Highway Patrol
Neighboring Wilberforce University was not placed on lockdown, contrasting with Atlanta's AUC cascade pattern
Central State is Ohio's only public HBCU, making this incident one of the few documented HBCU swatting cases in the state
Outcome
No active shooter was found and no injuries occurred. The lockdown lasted approximately two hours and 48 minutes, from the ~9 a.m. EDT alert activation to the ~11:48 a.m. EDT all-clear. CSU Police Chief Stephanie Hill announced that 24-year-old Kual Bak was taken into custody and charged with Making False Alarms; officers located him hiding in a women's bathroom on campus. The incident is one of multiple swatting hoaxes that targeted HBCUs in 2022.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    Lockdown lifted at Central State University, no active shooter reported (ABC 6 / WSYX)
    abc6onyourside.com
  2. News
    Lockdown lifted at Central State University after report of armed suspect on campus (WHIO)
    whio.com
  3. News
    Man charged following CSU active shooter reports (NBC4 WCMH-TV)
    nbc4i.com
  4. Source
    US: Active shooter reported near Central State University, Wilberforce, Ohio, June 11 (Crisis24)
    crisis24.garda.com
Tags
swattingactive-shooter-false-alarmhbcuohiowilberforcecentral-statefalse-alarms-chargesaturday-morning-incidentsuccessful-prosecutionHoax
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion