Three New Zealand universities are on high alert after receiving anonymous threats that bombs had been planted or a mass shooting was planned.
Police and local experts are concerned the wave of threats are the start of “copycat” campus violence after the high-profile shooting of nine people last week at Umpqua community college in Roseburg, Oregon.
Otago University in Dunedin was targeted in an anonymous post to the online chat forum 4Chan early Tuesday morning, warning students to stay away from campus on Wednesday (7 October) as a mass shooting was planned.
Inspector Mel Aitken, acting area commander of Otago coastal police said on Wednesday morning the threat had not been “authenticated or identified”.
“We are also mindful of copycat threats and we will be taking a firm stance on these incidents and those who are associated with them.”
Dunedin police and university security were deployed across campus and many students stayed away from classes, cafes and the library. The usually bustling university was eerily quiet as shops and eateries closed and uniformed and plain clothed officers patrolled the empty halls.
Otago student Will Miller, 21, described the scene as “a ghost town”.
“I didn’t go to uni today because I was definitely concerned that something might happen. I was sceptical [of the threat] but it’s not worth the risk of something happening.”
Victoria University in the capital Wellington was also evacuated on Wednesday after a handwritten note was found claiming bombs had been hidden in a building on campus and would be detonated before lunchtime. The university was evacuated and buildings searched but “no suspicious items” were found, local police said in a statement.
Massey University in Palmerston North also received a similar threat on Wednesday afternoon, and that campus was also evacuated. Police said there was “no direct threat to the public” but they would keep up surveillance over the next few days.
