By SCOTT MERZBACH
Staff Writer
AMHERST — Multiple emergency alerts sent out by Amherst College Friday afternoon, informing people an active shooter was on campus as first-year students were arriving for the fall semester with their families, were caused by a malfunctioning system, according to the college.
In statements put on its social media platforms, the college wrote that there was no emergency or event occurring, and that it was investigating what caused the AC Alert system to activate.
“Members of our community may have received multiple AC Alerts a short while ago. Please be advised that the original alerts were not valid,” the college wrote.
“The main message is that there was never an active shooter on campus. Period,” college spokeswoman Caroline Hanna wrote in an email.
One parent took to Twitter to describe what happened: “Harrowing way to drop off our kid at Amherst College: a campus-wide alert warned of an active shooter threat & ushered everyone to hide in darkened rooms!”
In an email to the campus community Friday night, Amherst College President Michael A. Elliott apologized for the false alerts and said the college immediately began investigating them to understand what had occurred. The college learned that one of the two software companies the college works with to support its alert system confirmed that the false alerts were a result of a technical error on its part.
“We have been assured that the alert system is now fully intact and that we have the ability to reliably notify the campus of a real emergency,” Elliot wrote.
The college’s website states that the AC Alert system is designed to provide notifications about a significant emergency or dangerous situation through texts, voice mail, email, digital signs and outdoor speakers.