Voicemail, Sent In Error, Alerts Students to 'Shots Fired' on OU Campus

A voicemail message sent by Oakland University officials Tuesday afternoon alerted students and employees to a "shots fired" situation on campus.

But the message was sent in error as part of a scheduled testing of OU's emergency text message system.

"There is no emergency," stated a news release posted on the university website. 

The erroneous voicemail message was sent after the system sent a correct text message. 

"Within minutes of learning about this error, university officials acted to correct the voicemail message by sending a corrected text, a campus-wide e-mail, reissuing a voicemail message, posting a story to the university web site, and correcting the message through social media networks," according to the statement.

"University officials regret the error and any confusion and inconvenience it may have caused, and are working to ensure this mistake does not happen again."

On the Oakland University Facebook page, followers were quick to post about their fears in receiving the message. 

It is not clear how many students and employees received the erroneous voicemail message; there are more than 19,700 students on the OU campus. 

The test was scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday; it was part of a system intended to inform cell phone users of a crisis situation or campus closure, according to an alert posted on the school's website on Monday.

"Using the cell phones of registered users, university police and communications personnel are able to rapidly distribute information necessary to protect the health, safety and welfare of the campus community," the alert stated. "The system is also used to notify users of any university closure or campus wide cancellation of classes."

The service is free; you can register at oakland.edu/ready.