{"id":131793,"date":"2025-08-21T15:38:30","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T23:38:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/08\/21\/report-of-law-school-active-shooter-a-cruel-hoax\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T15:38:30","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T23:38:30","slug":"report-of-law-school-active-shooter-a-cruel-hoax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/08\/21\/report-of-law-school-active-shooter-a-cruel-hoax\/","title":{"rendered":"Report Of Law School Active Shooter A \u2018Cruel Hoax\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

UPDATE:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Earlier today reports of an active shooter at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law swept through the campus. But the initial anonymous report of a shooter was nothing more than a \u2018cruel hoax\u2019<\/a> according to the university president, Father Peter Donohue, and as of 6:15 p.m., the shelter in place order was lifted.<\/p>\n

The swatting incident was condemned by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro:<\/p>\n

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The reports of an active shooter at Villanova today are unfounded, and products of a cruel swatting incident \u2014 when someone calls in a fake threat to induce panic.<\/p>\n

Swatting is illegal. I’ve directed @PAStatePolice<\/a> to work alongside their partners and use every tool at our\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 Governor Josh Shapiro (@GovernorShapiro) August 21, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

There\u2019s an active investigation into the swatting incident, according to\u00a0Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer<\/p>\n

Original Story:<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to news reports<\/a>, there\u2019s an active shooter situation at Villanova University. The Radnor Township Police Department are on the scene and issued a<\/a> shelter in place order to residents and students.<\/p>\n

The alert from the university provided some more specific information. That alert<\/a> asks folks to steer clear of the law school building, John F. Scarpa Hall. Scarpa Hall is described <\/a>as \u201chome to everything Villanova Law. From the Commons to the library, research centers, the career strategy office, and state-of-the-art classrooms, Villanova Law has everything you need all under one roof.\u201d<\/p>\n

The active shooter alert went out around 4:30 p.m. Just hours before, the law school completed its annual orientation.<\/p>\n

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Another successful Villanova Law orientation came to a close with a picnic hosted by the Villanova Law Alumni Association. We can\u2019t wait to see all the great things the class of 2028 will accomplish during their time here. See you bright and early on Monday! pic.twitter.com\/TAwaH8INPu<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Villanova Law (@Villanova_Law) August 21, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.<\/p>\n

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\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Report Of Law School Active Shooter A \u2018Cruel Hoax\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

According to news reports<\/a>, there\u2019s an active shooter situation at Villanova University. The Radnor Township Police Department are on the scene and issued a<\/a> shelter in place order to residents and students.<\/p>\n

The alert from the university provided some more specific information. That alert<\/a> asks folks to steer clear of the law school building, John F. Scarpa Hall. Scarpa Hall is described <\/a>as \u201chome to everything Villanova Law. From the Commons to the library, research centers, the career strategy office, and state-of-the-art classrooms, Villanova Law has everything you need all under one roof.\u201d<\/p>\n

The active shooter alert went out around 4:30 p.m. Just hours before, the law school completed its annual orientation.<\/p>\n

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @[email\u00a0protected].<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATE: Earlier today reports of an active shooter at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law swept through the campus. But the initial anonymous report of a shooter was nothing more than a \u2018cruel hoax\u2019 according to the university president, Father Peter Donohue, and as of 6:15 p.m., the shelter in place order was lifted. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":131794,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-Qrw0Cp.jpg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}