Rutgers Students Alarmed After Armed Suspect Test Text Sent Thursday Morning

Rutgers - At 9:42 a.m. Thursday, some Rutgers students were alarmed when they got a text from the school saying there was an armed suspect in an area of Alexander Library, followed by the words "TEST TEST."

But two minutes later, students got another text saying "End training scenario," and their fear turned to anger.

"#Rutgers emergency alert should have LEAD with the words THIS IS A TEST. Most ppl zone out after they see the words "Armed Suspect," tweeted one Rutgers student, Donna Austen. In a tweet since taken down, she had warned students to avoid Alexander Library after she got the initial text, reported NJ.com.

"Thanks Rutgers for worrying my family with that text. Sigh* it's a test. Could've used a different message?," tweeted another student, Allison.

"What an awful training scenario Rutgers," tweeted another student.

A Rutgers campus police spokesman admitted the school's initial wording caused "some concern and alarm," and said the school will revise the wording of future alert text messages. Interestingly, New Brunswick police also held an active shooter drill Thursday morning at Woodrow Wilson elementary in the city, but police told Patch it was a mere coincidence they both occurred the same morning.

"This drill was not done in response to the Orlando incident," Kenneth Cop, executive director of Rutgers public safety, told Patch. "It was not tied to the Woodrow Wilson School training. This was a planned exercise at the Alexander Library."

"We recognize that the wording of the initial message caused some concern and alarm amongst recipients; however the message was sent only to test the University’s Emergency Notification System. University Public Safety will be making necessary changes to protocols for future training exercises," he added.