A report of an active shooter at USC’s Thomas Cooper Library prompted evacuations before officials gave the all-clear.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — University of South Carolina authorities have given the “all-clear” after initially warning the campus of a possible active shooter through its alert system on Sunday night.
USC shared news around 8 p.m. that there is “no ongoing emergency,” and the Thomas Cooper Library would reopen after a final search was completed.
The campus sent an alert around 6:30 p.m. through its Carolina Alert system, urging students to evacuate the area, seek shelter and barricade themselves if necessary due to a report of an active shooter.
“Defend yourself if you encounter the suspect,” the alert said. “Obey public safety officials’ commands.”
USC Deputy Police Chief Scott Prill said students were told to “leave everything.”
The alert was later focused on the area of the Thomas Cooper Library, and the public was urged to stay away. Prill said witnesses reported hearing what could have been gunshots nearby.
When police arrived at the scene, they began clearing the library floor by floor.
An alert around 7:30 p.m. suggested that they had yet to find evidence of a shooting, and Prill said in a later update that police never found any shell casings.
The deputy chief added that they never found any evidence that shots were ever fired.
During his briefing, Prill also addressed online videos and rumors that circulated widely during the emergency response. In particular, he said that there was no credibility to reports that anyone was shot, and at least one image shared online actually showed someone carrying an umbrella and not a weapon.
“We have no video of anyone with a gun,” Prill said.
However, campus officials did confirm that medical staff were treating students for injuries that had occurred as they were being evacuated from one of the locations.
“We had a couple of people that had minor injuries from the evacuation because everybody left the library in a quick manner,” Prill said.
Just after 8 p.m., the university said the alert had been lifted.
“At this time they have uncovered no evidence that a shooting occurred,” the university said in a statement.
Several agencies, including the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), the FBI and the Columbia Police Department, responded to the scene.
Prill thanked those agencies and commended students for following the instructions given by law enforcement.