Campus Alert Archive
SCAD

Five Minutes of Terror by Mistake: SCAD's Active-Shooter Test Goes Out Live

GAothertestmedium 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 May 6, 2025, the Savannah College of Art and Design accidentally sent a live active-shooter alert to its community during what was meant to be a test of the SCAD Alert system. Students said it took about five minutes before a correction went out stating there was no active shooter on any SCAD campus. The art-and-design school, which spans Atlanta and Savannah locations, apologized for the error.

Alerts
2
Response
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Killed
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Injured
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Institution
Savannah College of Art and Design
Private Bachelors · GA
~17,500 studentsSCAD 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
Approximate reconstructionAtlanta News First (reconstructed from reporting)98 chars
SCAD Alert: Active Shooter reported. Run, Hide, Fight. Avoid the area. More information to follow.

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

Officials said the message was sent in live mode rather than test mode during a routine check of the SCAD Alert system on May 6, 2025.
The 'Run, Hide, Fight' language is the standard active-shooter template, which is exactly why an accidental live send carried real panic for an arts school spread across two cities.
Reconstructed from Atlanta News First and 11Alive reporting on the inadvertent message; the precise wording of the live-mode test is not published, so it is logged as not verbatim-confirmed.
CORRECTIONSMS+5 min
Verified verbatim11Alive (quoted follow-up alert text)128 chars
SCAD Alert: UPDATE There is no Active Shooter on any SCAD Campus. The alert was inadvertently sent out. All locations are clear.
11Alive published this follow-up message verbatim; it took roughly five minutes after the erroneous alert, students said.
The correction had to reassure recipients at both the Atlanta and Savannah campuses at once, since the live-mode error reached the entire SCAD community.
The phrase 'inadvertently sent out' is the institution's own admission of operator error rather than a system malfunction.
Context

Background

SCAD, one of the largest art-and-design schools in the country, operates campuses in Atlanta and Savannah and tests its SCAD Alert emergency-notification system regularly. On May 6, 2025, a test was inadvertently sent in live mode, pushing an active-shooter warning to the whole community. 11Alive reported that the correction — 'There is no Active Shooter on any SCAD Campus. The alert was inadvertently sent out. All locations are clear.' — followed about five minutes later, and FOX 5 Atlanta reported that SCAD apologized for the mistake. The episode is a useful archive entry on operator-error false alarms at a specialty institution and the human cost of the multi-minute gap before a correction reaches a frightened, multi-city student body.
Analysis

Key Findings

A routine SCAD Alert test was sent in live mode on May 6, 2025, broadcasting an active-shooter warning to the entire community by mistake
Students said the correction took about five minutes — a meaningful delay when the original message used 'Run, Hide, Fight' language
Because SCAD spans Atlanta and Savannah, the erroneous alert and its correction had to reach a geographically split student body simultaneously
SCAD publicly apologized and characterized the message as 'inadvertently sent,' an operator-error false alarm rather than a system failure
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    Mistaken active shooter alert accidentally sent out at SCAD, officials say - 11Alive
    11alive.com
  2. News
    Active shooter threat reportedly sent 'inadvertently' to SCAD Atlanta campus - Atlanta News First
    atlantanewsfirst.com
  3. News
    SCAD apologizes after active shooter alert test accidentally sent to students - FOX 5 Atlanta
    fox5atlanta.com
Tags
art-schooldesign-schoolfalse-alarmoperator-erroractive-shootergeorgiaspecialty-institutionHoax
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion