VILLANOVA, Pa. (WHP) — Terror struck after new students and their families at Villanova University Thursday received an alert about a possible active shooter on school grounds.

And though officials later confirmed the threat was just a “hoax,” it definitely didn’t feel that way in the heat of the moment.

Angela Bechtold, one of the parents of an incoming freshman, said she felt chills throughout her body.

“You know you hear the rumbling of people, right, and then you look over and then you see people screaming, and then someone says active shooter, and it’s just go, go, go,” Bechtold said.

READ MORE | Active shooter alert at Villanova University was a hoax, result of swatting, governor says

Her daughter, Reagan Bechtold, recounted the events as pure hysteria.

All of a sudden, I just saw people running like a stampede,” she recounted. “It was just insane, and behind us they said there was an active shooter. They got a text, and they said let’s go, and we just booked it.”

A time to welcome new students and their families turned into pure pandemonium when the alert went out around 4:30 p.m. Thursday. It advised everyone to immediately seek shelter, barricade themselves, and avoid the Scarpa Hall Law School building.

The shooting scare left everyone scrambling for shelter during the first-year student orientation mass, prompting a campus lockdown, according to Villanova University President Reverend Peter Donohue.

Two brothers, Michael and Joseph Romano, were separated in the chaos and feared they’d have to fight for themselves without each other.

“I had my brother slam my head to keep my head down, and I actually got separated from my family at the moment. It was a fight or flight moment, and I couldn’t find them.”

Videos on social media show panic and pure chaos.

In a letter written to the student community, the university president said there was no active shooter, no injuries, and no evidence of any guns on campus.

In a post on “X,” Governor Josh Shapiro called the events “every parent's nightmare, and every student's biggest fear”.

“The reports of an active shooter at Villanova today are unfounded, and products of a cruel swatting incident — when someone calls in a fake threat to induce panic,” the governor posted.

Shapiro said he’s directed Pennsylvania State Police to use every tool to find the person or people responsible and to hold them accountable.

The university canceled the rest of Thursday’s orientation activities and held a blessing for the community at 7 p.m.

Orientation activities were set to resume Friday.

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