Editor’s note: MTSU police and Rutherford County sheriff’s deputies responded to a false active shooter call before 11:30 a.m. at the Student Union on Tuesday, according to police on the scene.

MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee sent out a statement to the campus community Tuesday night following the false active threat event.

“I want to acknowledge and thank the MTSU and Murfreesboro police and Rutherford County Sheriff’s departments, all of which exercised appropriate and timely responses after receiving unconfirmed reports of a disturbance before noon today at the Student Union Building,” the statement read. “They were able to determine quickly that the report was unfounded and was the result of students using whistles and air horns for a spirit video being recorded for Homecoming.

“Given the times we find ourselves in today, the appearance of that response was concerning to many. MTSU Police will always put out an immediate alert message in the case of an active threat on campus. However, as an additional precaution, I have asked the department to create an informational communication to indicate a significant presence of emergency responders on campus, even if the matter is deemed not to be an active threat.”

Editor’s note: MTSU police and Rutherford County sheriff’s deputies responded to a false active shooter call before 11:30 a.m. at the Student Union on Tuesday, according to police on the scene.

Student Government President RJ Ware provided a statement to Sidelines following the false active shooter event at the Student Union on Tuesday.

“I am grateful the perceived active threat at the Student Union was a false alarm,” Ware said. “We are grateful for the swift response by local law enforcement. In the coming days, we will be in touch with MTSU administration and police to evaluate the series of events that led to the incident today.”

Editor’s note: MTSU police and Rutherford County sheriff’s deputies responded to a false active shooter call before 11:30 a.m. at the Student Union on Tuesday, according to police on the scene.

MTSU students and staff reacted differently to the events following the false active shooter event on Tuesday.

The event ushered confusion into classrooms, Sally Ann Cruikshank, a journalism professor, said.

“I was wondering why [students] were looking out the window, and then, chaos erupted,” Cruikshank said. “One student said ‘active shooter,’ [and] students were getting texts from their parents. I kept looking for the critical alert, because that’s what we’ve been told is that the alert is the first information that you’ll get from the university — nothing.”

Some in the community wondered why an alert was not sent out sooner, like Marciana Johnson, a sophomore political science and pre-law major, who received a text from her boyfriend at 11:30 a.m., 37 minutes before a message from MTSU.

“I was in class over in Peck, I was giving a presentation, and I got a notification from my boyfriend saying, ‘Be careful, there’s a shooter,’” Johnson said. “[I felt] anxious, especially with everything that’s happened with the Charlie Kirk shooting. I was afraid it was something retaliatory.”

MTSU police Chief Edwin Kaup explained there was no initial alert because there was no threat.

“We knew within a couple of minutes there was no threat, but our protocol is to treat an event like there is a threat,” Kaup said. “There was no notification because unwarranted panic can get people hurt.”

Still, Cruikshank felt that there should have been a notification.

“I think that the critical alert should have gone out immediately,” Cruikshank said. “I totally understand that they don’t want to cause panic, but I think in the age of social media and cell phones, people are going to find out instantaneously anyway.”

Some students are also upset with the response time. MTSU junior Kelbi Pierce was frustrated that the campus-wide critical alert system was not utilized.

“So many students were left guessing, and information didn’t come out until after everything was cleared,” Pierce said. “This just made everything worse, as word of mouth led to widespread panic. Everyone’s on edge right now, and limited communication does not help at all.”

Editor’s note: MTSU police and Rutherford County sheriff’s deputies responded to a false active shooter call before 11:30 a.m. at the Student Union on Tuesday, according to police on the scene.

The timeline of the false campus shooting is as follows, according to Jimmy Hart, the senior director of news and media relations at MTSU:

Police received a 911 transfer from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, at 11:26 a.m.

The first officer arrived on scene at 11:28 a.m.

Murfreesboro police units were on scene at 11:29 a.m.

The campus-wide alert went out at 11:57 a.m.

The MTSU Police Department released a statement on social media about a false active shooter event at the MTSU Student Union, confirming to the campus community what the situation was.

“The situation was evaluated, and it was clear that there was not an active threat, but we will always treat it as if it were,” the statement read.

MTSU police, Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office and Murfreesboro police responded to 911 calls from people who witnessed others running and yelling in the Student Union.

“Despite this being a false alarm, we want to reiterate that if you see something, always say something,” the statement read.