Camp Pendleton law enforcement officials are investigating what they are calling an "active shooter hoax," which spread via social media Thursday, said base spokesman Jason Johnston.
The provost marshall's office received word from the media at 8:15 p.m. Thursday that an active shooter was attacking the Las Pulgas 43 Area, Johnston told Marine Corps Times. Camp Pendleton law enforcement arrived on scene, but at 9:12 p.m. the provost marshall's office declared the incident a false alarm.
The source of the active shooting rumor is believed to be an anonymous Facebook page for Marines, said Johnston, who would not say whether the page itself is being investigated.
Business Insider first reported on Friday that the Senior Lance Corporal Page posted the following warning to readers about 8:15 p.m. on Thursday: "ACTIVE SHOOTER ON PULGAS! ALL MARINES HAVE BEEN INSTRUCTED TO LOCK THEMSELVES INSIDE OF THEIR ROOMS. REGIMENTAL DUTY OFFICER IS ACTING ACCORDINGLY ... This is NOT a joke."
The post had been taken off of the Facebook page by Friday afternoon, but a person claiming to be a former administrator wrote a lengthy postmortem of why he posted the warning. The unnamed former administrator wrote he received several tips Thursday night about an active shooter at Camp Las Pulgas, 43 Area.
"As soon as I had read these messages, I made some phone calls to some fellow Devils in the area to confirm or deny these claims," wrote the former administrator, whose screen name is Nomad. "Some said that they hadn't heard anything, and some said that it was verified. Being an admin on a page like SLC, what would you do in that scenario?"
He acknowledges posting the warning, which was shared 457 times within the first hour, the former administrator wrote. Some of the Facebook pages on which the warning was posted reach more than 200,000 people. To own up for his actions, the former administrator announced he had resigned from his duties at Senior Lance Corporal.
"Although that the information provided to me from multiple sources were taken to the absolute extreme, they were indeed in place," the administrator wrote. "The only thing was is that it wasn't fully verified and completely truthful. All I was doing was passing on the information that I was given from multiple sources. The sources will not be named because I believe and respect the anonymity with the individuals who have the audacity to write and tell us about whatever it is they feel like sharing."
The page posted some of the tips it had received about an active shooter to show that the incident was not an intentional hoax. One message reads: "Just got a call from my battalion telling me there is an active shooter at camp Pendleton can you get more info for me they don't know what area he was in." That message was sent at 10:34 p.m. on Thursday, more than an hour after the provost marshall's office reported that there was no shooter.
Reached by Facebook, an administrator for Senior Lance Corporal told Marine Corps Times on Friday that the warning was posted after the Facebook page received several messages about an active duty shooter and it appeared that Marines, families and contractors were in danger.
"In the Marine Corps, our Fourth General Order is cited as the following: "To repeat all calls from posts more distant from the guard house than my own,'" the administrator wrote.
The warning was not posted as a joke, rather it represented "good initiative, bad judgment," wrote the administrator, who added that the news media also some times reports things that turn out not to be true.
"Weathermen report 90% rain, yet it's sunny out with 110 degree weather," he wrote. "CNN and Fox News report false claims all the time. I see nothing wrong with what has transpired in the last 24 hours. It has been a lesson learned, but ironically, I would post it again and again. Why, you might ask? To save the potential lives of Marines, sailors, and families stationed on Pulgas along with surrounding areas."
