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An active shooter incident was reported on the campus of the University of South Carolina on Sunday afternoon (August 24, 2025) – sending students, parents and faculty into a panic – although no shots appear to have been fired and police sounded the “all clear” less than two hours later.
An initial alert sent from the school at approximately 6:37 p.m. EDT noted the presence of an “active shooter at Thomas Cooper Library on Columbia campus.” A follow-up alert described the suspect being sought by police in connection with the reported shooting as a “six foot white male wearing black pants.”
“Avoid the area,” the alert added. “Evacuate the area or seek safe shelter and barricade yourself in a safe area as necessary until further notice. Defend yourself if you encounter the suspect. Obey public safety officials’ commands.”
The second alert indicated the suspect in the shooting was “still in the area” near the library, which is located at 1322 Greene Street in heart of the historic South Carolina campus.
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Less than an hour after the initial alert was sent, however – at 7:10 p.m. EDT – the school posted a notification which indicated there was “no eviden(ce) of an active shooter at this time.”
“Police are searching,” the follow-up alert noted. “Please continue to shelter in place until there is an all clear.”
At 7:47 p.m. EDT, the school posted another update which reiterated there was no evidence of an active shooter on campus.
“There is still no evidence of an active shooter on the Columbia campus; police are continuing to search the area,” the alert noted. “Continue to avoid the area as much as possible.”
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Our @RealAndyFancher is on the scene near the Thomas Cooper library @UofSC… pic.twitter.com/s2786eg9HU
— FITSNews (@fitsnews) August 24, 2025
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Emergency responders indicated they were treating “a couple of students with minor injuries that occurred during evacuation,” but no gunshot victims.
Why not? Because there were no gunshots, according to the school.
At 8:06 p.m. EDT – 89 minutes after the initial “active shooter” alert – the school’s warning system officially sounded the “all clear.”
“There is no ongoing emergency at this time; you no longer need to shelter in place,” the school noted. “The Thomas Cooper library building remains closed until further notice.”
What prompted the apparent false alarm? According to a statement from the school, campus police stated they “received a report of gunfire at the Thomas Cooper library on the Columbia campus.”
Our Andy Fancher – who was on the scene yesterday evening – confirmed speaking to multiple individuals who swore they heard “gunshots,” specifically separate bursts of shots from inside the library.
Others insist the false alarm was driven by videos posted to social media.
One such clip featured a white male wearing black shorts and a short-sleeve olive shirt on a crosswalk near the library. The individual, who appeared to be a student, was carrying something in his left arm which some believed resembled a weapon.
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One of the videos from @UofSC today which may have prompted some of the reports… pic.twitter.com/j6wM1wgKBz
— FITSNews (@fitsnews) August 24, 2025
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Other video angles of the student seemed to indicate he was carrying something more closely resembling an umbrella.
The entire campus was immediately locked down in the aftermath of the alert- which was issued just five days after classes commenced for the fall 2025 semester.
This is a developing story… please check back for updates.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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11 comments
Thank you, Will, for the timely updates. USC is not saying enough and not updating fast enough. Not good.
“Defend yourself if you encounter the suspect.”
Laughable when you consider how many USC officials, LE, and others, advocate for USC and other schools remaining as Gun Free Zones, also known as Victim Disarmament Zones, also known as Criminal Safety Zones.
There is a reason that so many active shooter terrorists pick Gun Free Zones such as schools, military bases, and hospitals, for their rampages. Too bad that our Powers That Be have not figured that out, yet.
I am glad that it was a false alarm this time!
It was scary. It was awful! Guys were coming out of the men’s room and looked to be bleeding from their ani. I was scared. Daddy told me not to go in the stalls with other guys. Now my anus is bleeding.
I was on campus last night – the situation was well handled by the USC PD and the PIO. Students/staff got the alert via the campus alert system. The university updated the status every 15-30 minutes and when it became more apparent that it was probably not a real event they said so. Finally issued an all clear and then an email explaining what happened. If you’re butt hurt because you didn’t know what was going on – tough. The people who needed to know (responders, students, faculty and staff) did.
If you’re a campus citizen and are not signed up for Carolina Alert, your ignorance is your fault.
I am a USC parent in the upstate with two kids there. I was in contact with them in real-time. We all get the Carolina Alerts. The alerts did go out, and I understand that the public is often the last to be informed of those types of outcomes (for good reason), but the wording was not clear and the updates were not timely. FitsNews was most concise,
As a parent who experienced this at another university and there was a shooter and victims, I believe USC handled it well.
We did not get those updates and were glued to the tv as well as waiting for texts from our student. I have another child employed at the university and they were not complaining about the updates. When the situation is fluid it is difficult for the agencies working to protect the students to also keep updates as the public would like.
I do hope students start to realize the effects of this on their families and friends, classmates before calling in a false alarm.
Faculty will be petitioning for remote learning again. Students will be safer learning from the locked basement bedrooms.
No, Squishy! They need to live their lives freely. This is something that surely can and does happen, but we don’t need Big Brother to save us by stripping rights and privileges ever again. I don’t care if it’s the zombie apocalypse—no more lockdowns except for brief ones for things such as last night.
I’m guessing some New Jersey yankee who never held a gun in real life saw that kid with an umbrella and just flew off the handle. When I went to college in SC (not USC), half the guys in the dorms had hunting rifles and shot guns in their closets to go hunting on weekends – myself included. Not a single time did anyone ever pull out a gun and point it at anyone or otherwise mishandle them. It was a different time and generation.
Catfish, I bet you didn’t worry about mass shootings then because there weren’t any. I wonder why…