Police say there's no threat at Villanova University after 'active shooter' alert

VILLANOVA, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- Radnor Township police say there's no active shooter or threat on the campus of Villanova University on Monday following a campus security alert.

Radnor police say they got a call from a student reporting gunshots at St. Monica Hall around 5:25 p.m.

"They believed they heard three gunshots coming from inside the dorm," said Radnor Police Lieutenant Shawn Dietrich.

The 911 call prompted a university alert instructing residents to shelter in place.

"We saw cops flying in over here, we all got scared, then we got that text saying like, 'shooter,'" said freshman Rocco Migliaccio.

"And everyone started to run. I ran towards west campus which is the farthest place I could seek shelter from. I mean it was scary, it was really scary," said freshman Kevin Kim.

Officers later determined there was no threat.

"We don't know what the origins of the noises were, but we do know after sweeping the building that we're confident that it was safe and it was never a threat," said David Tedjeske, director of public safety at Villanova.

Officials say it appears the student simply made a mistake but that it's better to safe than sorry. Monday night's exercise put to test the Nova Alert system that for all intents and purposes worked well.

"There are roughly 10,000 people signed up for our Nova alert, that system sends text messages and making phone calls and email messages," said Tedjeske.