First-year public relations student Ashley Wall was in Thomas Cooper Library when reports of an active shooter on campus were issued.
"I was with my three friends, but it still felt like it was every man for themself, which is understandable because it's scary, but people were pushing each other and falling," Wall said. “I felt like there was a lack of community and lack of togetherness in that moment, but it is saddening.”
There were two separate calls made to USCPD on Aug. 24 reporting there was an active shooter at the Thomas Cooper Library at 6:30 p.m. and 6:32 p.m., respectively, according to a press release from University Spokesperson Jeff Stensland on Aug. 25.
“Both calls were initiated by an unknown male and included background noise that mimicked gunfire," according to Stensland.
The incident began in the Thomas Cooper Library, and the alert led to many students crowding together and running outside to Garnet Station, the newest dining hall on the USC campus.
There, students were packed together in the cooler rooms alongside the stored food. Then there were banging sounds that led to students piling over one another, tossing belongings to the side, followed by multiple police officers and dogs guiding students outside of Russell House.
According to a statement issued by Stensland, USCPD was led to believe the active shooter alert was part of a swatting hoax, as other universities around the nation have also experienced similar events in recent days.
As a result of the hoax, two students received minor injuries while evacuating the library and were transported to a local hospital for treatment, where they both have been released, according to Stensland.
From the library
Fourth-year psychology student Makenly Powers was on the library’s mezzanine level when Carolina Alerts and texts from friends began filling her phone, she said. Minutes later, police officers with drawn guns and dogs came through the library’s front doors.
Students were reacting to the situation with different emotions, Wall said. There were some students and staff yelling in different directions, and Wall said she received bruises from people pushing into her.
Wall said she witnessed students run past a woman in a wheelchair in the process.
From the library, Wall ran to Women’s Quad, where she and others hid in the first room they could find.It was the room of first-year public relations student McKenna Jeans, who said the panic set in when people rushed into her room in noticeable distress.
“Just seeing them hysterically crying, on the phone with their parents, and the deadpan look in their eyes because they literally thought they were about to die,” Jeans said. “That is when I got worried, because I was like, ‘Oh wait, this is real.’”
One student said she focused on helping others when she learned of the report. Some students who were in the library at the time of the report were escorted by police to nearby Women’s Quad and instructed to shelter in place. Second-year criminology and criminal justice student and Women’s Quad resident Kelly O’Toole, who was at Women's Quad at the time, said she made sure students outside knew they needed to take shelter.
“My number one priority at that point was other people,” O’Toole said. “It wasn’t, ‘What do I do in this situation?’ It was more like, ‘There are freshmen who may not be getting the Carolina Alert.’”
O’Toole sheltered in place in a second-floor public bathroom in the McClintock wing of Women’s Quad with five other students, three of whom were working at the Thomas Cooper Starbucks when they evacuated.
“Everyone had a very different mood. There were people who were hysterical, rightfully so, and there were people who, like me, were struggling to process it at first,” O’Toole said. “It was very apparent how easily people can come together in those types of situations. We were all supporting each other as far as relaying information, making sure we got the alerts, calming each other down (and) telling ourselves and each other that we were going to get through it.”
FILE — A police officer walks past several scattered items after students left in a hurry during an active shooter alert at Thomas Cooper Library on Aug. 24, 2025. Some students received minor injuries while evacuating.
Shooter or not, the day’s events left Powers shaken and unsure if she would ever return to the library, she said. She added that she felt the university could have done more for students in the wake of the scare, such as making Monday a mental health day with optional classes.
“Even if there wasn’t a shooter, I feel like they should do something about everyone in the library and how scared we felt,” Powers said. “It kind of feels a little bit invalidating to all of our feelings because all of us thought that we were possibly going to die. Everyone was texting their parents, saying that they love them and everything.”
From Russell House
A Russell House dining employee who was present during the event spoke to The Daily Gamecock on the condition of remaining anonymous.
The employee, who was on the first floor at the time, said he was not informed of the active shooter report via the Carolina Alert system, as many students and faculty were. He described learning of the situation after being crowded by a group of students trying to push their way into a dining hall storage room.
“Once I got one of the guys calmed down, he let me know what was going on, I started getting them calmed down (and) moved into other rooms because I didn't want them to stand all in that one little, small hallway,” he said.
When police arrived on the second floor, all students and dining hall employees were escorted out of Russell House toward Greene Street, the employee said.
“I didn't know it was the cops at first, though, but I just saw an M16 … and I was like, ‘Oh, ok, maybe (the shooter is) here.’ But then I saw the body armor and everything, and then that's when we saw those (were) the cops. They started shuffling us out downstairs,” he said.
Despite USCPD later declaring the report false, it was hard to process what the situation could have been, O'Toole said.
“With what I’m studying, it is very normal for me to envision situations like that,” O’Toole said. “But I do not think it’s ever really possible to be prepared for a situation like that on an emotional level.”