Authorities in Maryland are trying to figure out how an active shooter warning was sent out in error on a college campus.
The warning went out Friday at Montgomery College in the D.C. suburbs.
The message was broadcast on Twitter and declared: "EMERGENCY! Active shooter at [insert campus] Campus. LOCK DOWN NOW. Go to nearest room and lock door! Follow instructions from authorities."
The message had led to some panic and confusion online as people tried to learn if it was real, but the tweet was taken down about 25 minutes later.
The school tweeted that there was no threat, posting at 8:11 a.m., "MC ALERT: There is NO THREAT. The 'active shooter' message was sent in ERROR. There is NO THREAT. We apologize for the erroneous message."
Several Twitter users criticized the false alarm, expressing concerns that if there were ever a serious threat, people might doubt the accuracy of an alert.
"Honestly how does this happen more than once, or at all," another user wrote.
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Friday morning's incident marks the second time in less than two years that such a false alarm was sent to the Montgomery College community. In February 2018, the school falsely sent students and staff an alert about a gunman at the school.
In that case, officials sent an all-clear message five minutes later. The person who sent the alert was working on something else when they accidentally sent the message and sounded the alarm, school spokesman Marcus Rosano said.
In Friday's case, Rosano said the "false alarm" is being investigated.
Earlier this year, a similar false alert was also sent to the community of George Mason University in Northern Virginia.
"We understand that this was a frightening experience for our community and apologize for the fear it may have caused," George Mason's safety director said at the time.
