A University of Southern California faculty member told her students during class that there was an active shooter in the building.
Her remarks created a campus-wide fear that there was an active shooter on campus on October 2, school officials say.
Los Angeles police are questioning the faculty member and have not commented on what her motive might have been.
The faculty member is also undergoing a mental health evaluation, reports the Washington Post.
Police responded to reports of an active shooter at the University of Southern California on Monday afternoon. Pictured above is students being evacuated
A faculty member, who has not been identified, told her students during class that there was an active shooter in the building. She allegedly told her students to lock the classroom’s doors and get down on the floor and proceeded to yell ‘active shooter’
The woman had suffered ‘some sort of an episode’, Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Phillip Tingirides told KABC.
She allegedly told students to get down on the floor and lock the doors – ‘lockdown mode’ – and began yelling ‘active shooter’.
Students speaking to various media outlets said they were not sure if she was performing a drill or whether the threat was real.
The faculty member has not been identified by police. Her name has been withheld by the university.
Two students who spoke to the Daily Trojan, USC’s student newspaper, alleged that their teacher, Amy Granados, had made the false report.
The campus went on lockdown as the shooting reports came in at around 12.30pm. Police gave the all-clear less than an hour later.
USC had sent out campus-wide alerts announcing police activity near Fertitta Hall and telling people nearby to shelter in place.
The false alarm came after the deadliest shooting in modern US history.
Stephen Craig Paddock, 64, shot dead 59 people and injured more than 500 at a concert Sunday night in Las Vegas.