His hands shift, unable to keep still, as he recounts the incident in Hodges Library.
“And basically, once the whole building was clear, they let me go,” he said.
On Aug. 25, police responded to a phone call report of an individual with a weapon at Hodges Library on the University of Tennessee’s campus. The phone call turned out to be a hoax, but the swarm of officers to the area prompted confusion and alarm across the university. While no official alerts went out, rumors spread quickly.
The Daily Beacon interviewed a sophomore who said officers briefly held for questioning in the library. This student wishes to remain anonymous, so under the pseudonym “John,” here is his story.
At 12:20 Aug. 25, sophomore chemistry major John arrived at Hodges and made his way to the fifth floor, intending to begin his calculus homework. Around 12:40, his friend Joshua Malloy stopped by the library, and they met on the second floor to talk. The two parted ways shortly after, and John took the stairs back up to the fifth floor.
“I got up to the fifth floor and then I have my phone on do not disturb, especially on like, the quiet floors. But I get, like, three calls from Josh.”
Malloy had been making his way to the first floor when he witnessed armed policemen begin to enter the building. Panicked, he began texting and calling his friends, telling them to get out of Hodges. He left three calls for John, who still had his phone on DND.
Back on the fifth floor, John eventually saw the calls.
“So I text him, like, hey what’s up? And then I get messages from him saying there’s a bunch of police coming in. ‘Get out of Hodges, police pushed us out.’”
This time, John took the elevator down to the second floor, trying to leave the building.
“I passed by, I think, four or five police officers outside of the elevators.” His voice quickened as he began the next part. “And then, when I’m walking by OneStop, they have officers at the exits. And one of the officers stops me and says, ‘Hey, we’re looking for a guy.’”
UTPD did not provide the Beacon with a description beyond “individual with a weapon.” Public Information Officer Ryan Moore said the description “is part of the ongoing investigation related to the hoax.”
John said he was told by officers that they were looking for “Someone with long black hair and then a black and silver shirt. … I have, like, dark brown hair and it’s kind of long. … My shirt was a tan King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard shirt. I’m just, like, OK, because I’m just gonna follow what he’s saying.”
The officer told John he needed to ask him a few questions, and then asked to see some ID, which John provided. The officer proceeded to ask John if he had heard any gunshots — he hadn’t.
“As this is happening, there’s a lot of other officers that are, like, coming down to the exits,” John said. “I guess after they finish sweeping their floors. So it goes from one officer in front of me to like, I would say four. … It was the spot down there on those benches.”
An anonymous student who says he was questioned by officers during the active threat hoax incident stands outside Hodges Library on Aug. 25, 2025.
One of the officers asked if he could search John’s backpack. It was a “casual” request, according to John.
“It was like, ‘Do you mind if I search your bag real quick? We just need to make sure you don’t have a weapon on you.’ They used the word ‘collapsible rifle.’ … Something like that,” John said.
The bag search produced nothing by way of a weapon. “The most dangerous thing I have in my bag is scissors,” John said. “They kind of just had me sitting there while they waited for all the other police to like, clear all the floors.”
At this point, John began to piece together more of his situation. He already knew that his friend Malloy was outside of Hodges by now, and that something was amiss inside. Police are obviously looking for someone and particularly, someone with a weapon.
“They’re mentioning there could be a weapon in the building, but I’m being held in the building,” John said.
The police officers were respectful and continued to treat him in a casual manner, John said.
The lack of seriousness felt like “whiplash,” he said.
“From like, did you hear gunshots? To like, I mentioned I was a chemistry major and one of them (said) ‘Oh, that couldn’t be me. That’s why I’m in the uniform.’”
John said he did not witness any other students being stopped by police.
At about 1:18 police cleared the area and began walking out of the library, according to John. They told him he was free to go. What had begun as just his second Monday of classes, a study session in a familiar building, became a day he would never forget.
“I walked up the hill to the Academic Resource Building,” John said. “I sat down in there for a little bit, but my next class was at 3, so I was like, the whole time I’m just in my head … thinking, like, ‘How did that happen?’ Or like, ‘What’s going on, really?’ I went back to doing all my calc 3 homework to like, not think about that.”
UTPD said they do not have knowledge of a student being stopped by officers. Knoxville Police Department Communications Manager Scott Erland provided the Beacon with the following statement:
“KPD officers did briefly stop a student for investigative purposes during the initial response to the report of a gunman on campus, quickly questioned him and checked his bag to verify that he did not have a weapon, and then he was released from the scene. The entire interaction was cordial and lasted approximately seven minutes.”
An anonymous student who says he was questioned by officers during the active threat hoax incident stands outside Hodges Library on Aug. 25, 2025.
