San Francisco State University on Thursday locked down the campus for around four hours and canceled classes after receiving an anonymous threat of violence, campus police said. The university lifted the shelter-in-place order around 4 p.m.
“No credible threat to the campus community has been discovered,” university spokesperson Kent Bravo wrote in a statement.
Bravo said university police discovered menacing graffiti just after 11 a.m.
“The threat was in relation to the use of firearms and explosive devices,” Bravo said. “Out of abundance of safety, it was determined that a shelter in place was necessary.”
The initial alert advised students who were not on campus to stay away. Anyone on campus was advised to stay away from doors and windows and shelter in place until further instructions were given.
Nearby, Lowell High School secured its perimeter due to the threat at SF State, a district spokesperson said.
San Francisco Police Department spokesperson Robert Rueca said officers responded at around 11:55 a.m. and were assisting campus police with the investigation.
Just after 1 p.m., the university sent out an alert that university police were conducting a sweep of campus. Freshman Cody Regester said his building manager told him the University Police Department was sweeping the campus.
A campus police officer said building sweeps could take all day.
Several officers entered the J. Paul Leonard Library with police dogs at around 1:20 p.m.
The threat comes during finals week. One student asked if they could still take their exam in response to the university’s X post. The university said finals would be rescheduled. It later said that exams had been canceled for the day.
Jennifer Beach, a lecturer in the English department, said the threat was unprecedented.
“I’ve never seen this happen before,” Beach told The Standard via phone. She has been teaching at the university for 20 years.
“It could conceivably derail finals,” Beach said, adding that many final exams are now online.
At Cafe 101, on the plaza level of the university’s Cesar Chavez Center, a worker named Jack said he had heard of the alert shortly after 12:30 p.m. and was safely locked down inside.
“It’s all quiet over here. We’re not seeing anything going on,” said Jack, who declined to give a last name.
This is at least the third time SF State has received threats in the past five years, including a “non-specific” anonymous threat made in September 2021 and a bomb threat made on Dec. 19, 2019.
This is a developing story.