Campus Alert Archive
DMC

19 Minutes of Shelter-in-Place at Heritage Campus in a Statewide Swatting Wave

TXswattingemergency 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.

Del Mar College's Heritage Campus in Corpus Christi sheltered in place for about 19 minutes on April 13, 2023, after a hoax active-shooter call, one of at least eight Texas colleges hit by swatting that morning. A report of an active shooter came in around 10:23 a.m. CDT for the campus at 101 Baldwin; DMC sent a shelter-in-place alert at 10:28 a.m. and issued the all-clear at 10:47 a.m. after officers found no evidence of a threat.

Alerts
2
Response
—
Killed
—
Injured
—
Institution
Del Mar College
Community College · TX
~24,000 studentsDMC Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 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 verbatimKIII-TV (quoting the DMC Alert shelter-in-place message)154 chars
An emergency, possible active shooter, is reported at DMC Heritage Campus. While this is being verified, shelter in place or avoid the area until advised.
Exact DMC Alert text as quoted by KIII-TV; the message hedged with 'possible' and 'while this is being verified,' reflecting that the report was unverified when sent.
The alert went out at 10:28 a.m. CDT, five minutes after the 10:23 a.m. hoax call, a fast turnaround for an unverified active-shooter report.
ALL CLEARSMS+19 min
Approximate reconstruction156 chars
DMC Alert: All clear. Police have cleared the Heritage Campus and found no threat. The report of an active shooter was a hoax. Normal operations may resume.

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

Reconstructed all-clear; police issued the all-clear at 10:47 a.m. after finding no evidence of a threat or shooting, per KRIS-TV.
This was the second hoax call at Del Mar College in about a month, part of a broader Texas swatting surge in spring 2023.
Context

Background

On the morning of April 13, 2023, at least eight Texas colleges and universities were hit by hoax active-shooter calls, a coordinated swatting wave that also struck Tyler Junior College, Texas Wesleyan University, Collin College, Lamar Institute of Technology, Galen College of Nursing, Texas A&M, and Baylor. At Del Mar College's Heritage Campus, located at 101 Baldwin in Corpus Christi, a report of an active shooter came in around 10:23 a.m. CDT. The college sent a shelter-in-place DMC Alert at 10:28 a.m. and issued the all-clear at 10:47 a.m. after officers found no evidence of a threat. It was the second hoax call at the campus in about a month. The caller faced a Class A misdemeanor false-alarm charge, and the FBI later opened an investigation into the statewide swatting pattern.
Analysis

Key Findings

Del Mar College's Heritage Campus sheltered in place from 10:28 to 10:47 a.m. CDT on April 13, 2023, a 19-minute window
The incident was one of at least eight Texas campus swatting hoaxes the same morning
It was Del Mar's second hoax call in roughly a month, and the caller faced a false-alarm charge
Outcome
Police found no shooter and no evidence a shooting occurred. The call was confirmed as a hoax and the all-clear was issued at 10:47 a.m. The caller faced a Class A misdemeanor false-alarm charge.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    Hoax active shooter calls made to Del Mar College, Woodsboro ISD - KIII-TV
    kiiitv.com
  2. News
    Active shooter call at Del Mar College confirmed as a hoax, authorities say - KRIS-TV
    kristv.com
  3. News
    8 Texas colleges and universities receive hoax calls about active shooter Thursday morning - KIII-TV
    kiiitv.com
Tags
swattingactive-shooter-hoaxtexascommunity-collegecorpus-christishelter-in-placeemergency-notificationconfirmed-hoax2023-texas-swatting-waveHoax
Added May 2026Updated June 2026Via ingestion