By Matt Hirsch
A Feb. 11 article by The Daily Mail misreported details of an active shooter on Brooklyn College’s campus. The story claimed BC “issued an ‘active shooter’ threat” that turned out to be a hoax email sent to a professor. That same day, an alt-right publication called Breitbart picked up the story.
The Daily Mail article reads, “On February 3 the school issues an ‘active shooter’ threat and at least 10 peace officers from five other institutions were called to respond to the shooting while on-campus security were dispatched to collect their locked up guns from lockers.”
Though the story says the threat “was not acted on,” it makes no mention that the NYPD “traced the e-mail to a hacker overseas, and determined that it was a hoax,” according to a statement made by Brooklyn College.
Breitbart covered the article’s comments on President Anderson’s gun policy for campus safety officers. “The Daily Mail reports that Brooklyn College administrator Michelle Anderson disarmed the campus police several months ago after a ‘school official said she was ‘triggered’ by the sight of a female campus security officer wearing a firearm,’” read the story.
President Anderson addressed these inaccuracies at a Feb. 15 Faculty Council meeting. “The story asserts that I disarmed our public safety officers and we were left unguarded when we experienced a threat,” she said. “In fact, I have not disarmed our public safety team, nor banned those few public safety officers who are trained in firearms from carrying them when it is needed.”
The article also mentions The Daily Mail’s report of an “‘active shooter’ scare,” but includes nothing about the NYPD’s investigation. The story ends by quoting BC’s instructions on how to respond to a hostage situation.
The Daily Mail and Breitbart are the two most well-known publications to misreport the story, but several other small publications, such as TimesNewsNetwork.com, published articles about the situation as well.