Local News

UT Dallas Forced to Clear Campus Over Bomb Threat Hoax

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Tony Maples Photography

 

CW 33 writes that around 2:45 p.m. on Tuesday, the University of Texas in Dallas tweeted, “All UTD faculty, staff, students, and visitors need to immediately evacuate all buildings and parking garages on campus…Please go to UT Dallas parking lots and stay away from buildings until further notice. We will post details as they become available.” Minutes later they revealed the reason for the sudden evacuation was a bomb threat.

UTD updated all of their social media platforms and their website to alert students and staff to the incident, and students filed outside in the misty weather. Only about 40 minutes later, officials confirmed that the campus had checked the school and determined that the bomb threat was in fact a hoax. At this time, no specific details have been released pertaining to the way the threat was received, nor the nature of the threat.

According to “Bomb Threat Basics” by Safe Havens International, schools can take three courses of action when it comes to bomb threats. They can ignore the threat, investigate the credibility of the claim, or go ahead and evacuate students and staff. In this tumultuous time, UTD chose the better safe than sorry route. Photos of the evacuation can be seen here.