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UW Whitewater lockdown: Police say ‘no threat to life safety’ as ‘run, hide, fight’ alert sparks panic
UW-Whitewater issued a “Run, Hide, Fight” alert Wednesday, urging students to shelter in place, but police later confirmed there was no public safety threat.
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Police said there is no threat to public safety after a “Run, Hide, Fight” alert was sent by the UW Whitewater's alert system.
Around 11:30am CDT, the alert systems of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater campus were activated. An alert was sent out to the university community in Whitewater, Wisconsin via text message asking them to shelter in place. "This is not a drill," it read.
“University Police asks the Whitewater campus community to remain sheltered in place until told otherwise,” the alert added. Claims about a potential shooting on the campus also spread.
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But after around 30 minutes of police response in the campus, an official with the university confirmed that there was no threat to the public. It is, however, unclear why the alert system was suddenly activated.
"There is no threat to life safety. Police have confirmed there was no threat to life safety earlier today when the alert system was activated," an alert sent out at 11:37am CDT read.
Matthew Kiederlen, the Chief Police at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater also confirmed that there was no threat.
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"There's not anything that I'm aware of right now that I would do differently or ask anyone to do differently. Our partners responded properly. Our community responded well. Everything went as best as I could have hoped for in the situation," Kiederlen said
The alert sparked a massive panic as Wednesday marked the first day of classes for the fall semester at UW-Whitewater.
