A bomb threat targeting various buildings on Rutgers University's main campus in New Brunswick turned out to be an apparent case of swatting, college officials said Thursday.
The swatting -- hoax calls reporting serious crimes designed to draw large emergency responses to a single place -- forced a shelter-in-place at the College Avenue campus after the call came in around 2:15 a.m., officials said.
It wasn't clear which buildings were targeted. Campus police and bomb detection dogs from the Middlesex County Sheriff’s Office swept the implicated areas and found nothing nefarious, officials said.
An initial investigation determined the incident was likely the result of a "purposeful, non-credible threat," they added.
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Rutgers police say it's unclear who apparently swatted the school. Their investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact the detective bureau at 848-932-8025.
Such hoax threats have become wide-scale in recent months. In late October, a series of swatting incidents locked down high schools in at least a half-dozen New Jersey counties in the span of 30 minutes. No injuries were reported, but authorities were investigating the case as a targeted attack.
Swatting involves a fake emergency call about a serious crime -- an active shooter, in some cases -- that forces a large-scale emergency response, directing police and other resources en masse. Similar incidents have been reported across the country in recent days, involving schools from California to Florida to South Carolina and other states.
