By Zachary Cohen, Lauren Chadwick, CNN

(CNN) — A midshipman was injured after mistaking law enforcement for an active shooter after misinformation spread online, according to a US Navy official.

The Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, was locked down Thursday after threats were issued, and concerns of an active shooter posted anonymously on a chat platform. But there was no active shooter on campus, according to communications from the school’s commandant seen by CNN.

According to those communications, the midshipman was injured due to misinformation that a shooter was posing as law enforcement and clubbed base security in the head with his parade rifle and was then shot in the arm. Both are receiving treatment.

The commandant warned against disinformation in his message and said everyone else was safe, but said it was part of multiple false reports nationwide of active shooters which the FBI is investigating.

A statement early Friday said the Naval Academy has since been given the all clear.

“One person was injured while Naval Security Forces were clearing a building. One person has been medevaced with injuries. They are in stable condition,” reads the statement from Naval Support Activity in Annapolis.

The academy was closed to the public Friday, according to a subsequent statement.

The incident in Maryland, fueled by online misinformation, comes amid heightened concerns in the country this week over political and gun violence after the killing of Donald Trump ally and conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Kirk died in a shooting while he spoke at a Utah college campus event and on the heels of a wave of active shooter hoaxes at several other college campuses across the country.

Multiple historically Black colleges and universities in the South went on lockdown or canceled classes also on Thursday over potential threats, although the nature of those threats were not immediately clear.

The-CNN-Wire
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