UNC Chapel Hill increases police presence on campus following false threat of UNCW gunman, similar social media ‘dialogue’

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — UNC officials say they’ve called for additional security patrols a day after an unfounded gun threat was reported at a fellow system institution. 

Thursday night, a lockdown was issued at UNC Wilmington after a gunman was reported. But it was deemed a false alarm. 

“UNC is aware of the incident involving threats of armed gunmen at UNCW earlier this week as well as the social media dialogue suggesting similar individuals’ intent to visit UNC Chapel Hill. Our threat assessment team and the UNC Police are closely monitoring the situation as the safety of students, faculty, staff and visitors is a top priority if the university,” the university said on social media Friday afternoon. 

They emphasized that there are no credible threats, but university officials are still taking action.

“UNC Police have, however, increased patrols on campus out of an abundance of caution, and we encourage campus community members to sign up for Alert Carolina, our emergency notification system.” 

On the first day of class in 2023, a UNC professor, Zijie Yan, was shot and killed by one of his students, which led a campus-wide lockdown.