There are extra police patrolling the Troy University campus today after rumors spread that someone was coming to shoot people.

Herbert Reeves, Dean of Student Services, said the threat first came last week when a message was found written on the bathroom wall at the Trojan Dining Hall.

“The writing on the bathroom wall is the only threat that we have received,” Reeves said. “It just stated a day and time for the shooting to take place.”

The message said the shooting would occur September 21 at noon. While noon passed without incident, Reeves said the increased police presence will continue throughout the day and possibly longer.

“We will continue until we determine there is no longer a threat,” Reeves said.

Troy sent out an email to all students over its SOS system to take extra precautions as they went about their day and to notify police of any suspicious persons or circumstances.

Reeves said there’s speculation that the person who wrote the note on the bathroom wall may be an older person, as the message referenced the university as “Troy State.” Troy dropped the “State” from its name in 2005.

Reeves said the threat turned into rumors this morning with whispers of two more threatening notes being found.

“University police responded to a call this morning that a note had been found in Smith Hall but had been discarded,” Reeves said. They interviewed a young lady there who said she had heard it from another friend, who said she had gotten a text about the threat, not a note. We tracked that back and she had heard it from another friend. It was all based on the original incident.”

Reeves said there is no reason to believe in the validity of the threat at this time.