A wave of active shooter hoaxes at universities brings panic and turmoil to the start of the school year

(CNN) — A terrifying text message sent students running for cover, barricading themselves in bathrooms and knocking over chairs in the frantic rush to hide from the active shooter reported on their university campus.

Then, a few hours later and 700 miles away, it happened again.

Reports of active shooters wielding assault rifles on campus sent excited students preparing for a new school year at Villanova University in Pennsylvania and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga into lockdown as law enforcement officers surged to the schools to assess the threats. Students hid behind walls, locked themselves into dorm rooms and frantically texted loved ones.

UW-Madison police thwart a false active shooter alert

At both schools, the reports turned out to be false: There were no gunmen