COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson confirmed this week that an online group known as Purgatory was responsible for the August 24 hoax active shooter reports at the University of South Carolina, which sent the Columbia campus into lockdown and caused panic among students and staff.
Hoax Shooter Calls Triggered Campus Chaos
On August 24, USC’s dispatch line received two separate calls around 6:30 p.m., reporting gunfire near the Thomas Cooper Library. The calls included background sounds resembling gunshots, which investigators now believe were generated by artificial intelligence.
As a precaution, police ordered students to evacuate and shelter in place while the campus was placed on lockdown. By 7:15 p.m., officials said there was no evidence of a shooter, and at 8:05 p.m., the university issued an all-clear.
Deputy Police Chief Scott Prill later explained: “We could not find an active shooter. We did find people who said they heard something that could have been gunshots. We didn’t find any shell casings.”
Attorney General Blames “Purgatory”
Attorney General Wilson said research linked the calls to Purgatory, described as an online gore-seeking group notorious for violent pranks and criminal activity. The Center for Internet Security and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue both tied the group to similar hoax calls at other universities, including Villanova, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, the University of Arkansas, and Iowa State…