Campus Alert Archive
ASU

"This is NOT a test": Albany State Alert Opens With Disbelief Marker as 17-Year-Old Shot Near East Campus

GAshootingemergency notificationmedium confidence

On Monday, September 15, 2025 at approximately 12:20 PM EDT, a 17-year-old girl was shot near Albany State University's East Campus, prompting a temporary lockdown. ASU's emergency alert opened with the unusual phrase "This is NOT a test" — a linguistic marker designed to signal authenticity in an era of frequent swatting hoaxes. The victim was treated at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

Alerts
3
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
1
Institution
Albany State University
Hbcu · GA
~5,800 studentsRamAlert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Verified verbatimWALB News 10 quoting the full text of the ASU RamAlert SMS sent to students, faculty, and staff on September 15, 2025153 chars
This is NOT a test. Report of gunshots fired near east campus. Seek shelter. For safety, lock doors and remain inside until an all clear has been issued.
The 151-character message opens with 'This is NOT a test' as an authenticity marker — one of the few alerts in the archive to use this phrasing to distinguish a real emergency from drills
The 'NOT a test' framing reflects ASU's defensive posture in fall 2025: just four days after seven HBCUs were swatted on September 11, 2025, ASU needed to signal that this alert was credible
ASU's East Campus sits on the eastern side of Albany, Georgia — across the Flint River from the main West Campus, which historically housed the original Albany State Normal School
UPDATESMS
Approximate reconstruction274 chars
ASU Alert Update: One individual injured by gunfire near east campus has been transported for medical care. Campus remains on lockdown. Albany Police are investigating at the Wild Pines Apartments on Sands Drive. Stay clear of the East Campus perimeter. Updates will follow.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Wild Pines Apartments sits adjacent to ASU's East Campus on Sands Drive — a high-density off-campus housing complex serving many ASU students
Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, where the victim was transported, is roughly 2 miles north of East Campus
Witnesses observed one person in handcuffs at the scene; APD did not immediately announce charges
ALL CLEARSMS
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from WALB 'ASU gives all clear' headline and reporting272 chars
ASU Alert: ALL CLEAR. The lockdown has been lifted. Albany Police continue to investigate the off-campus shooting at the Wild Pines Apartments. The victim is being treated for non-life-threatening injuries. East Campus operations are resuming. Thank you for your patience.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The all-clear preserved emphasis on the shooting being 'off-campus' — important for institutional liability framing
ASU students later received additional alerts after subsequent shots-fired incidents in the same week, indicating a pattern of off-campus violence affecting the East Campus area
Context

Background

On Monday, September 15, 2025 at approximately 12:20 PM EDT, Albany State University was placed on lockdown after a 17-year-old girl was shot at the Wild Pines Apartments adjacent to ASU's East Campus. The shooting occurred along Sands Drive in Albany, Georgia. ASU's RamAlert text message — sent to students, faculty, and staff — opened with the highly unusual phrase "This is NOT a test" before continuing with shelter-in-place instructions to lock doors and remain inside until an all-clear. This authenticity-marker phrasing reflected the institutional anxiety of the moment: just four days earlier, on September 11, 2025, seven HBCUs had been forced into lockdown by what the FBI later determined to be hoax threats, and ASU itself had been swatted. The September 15 incident was real — but the alert system's first job was now to convince a wary student body that it was. The victim was transported to Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. Albany Police had a significant presence at the Wild Pines Apartments complex, where one person was observed in handcuffs. ASU's police chief addressed safety concerns in a public statement days later as multiple additional shots-fired incidents occurred in the same area that week. ASU is one of Georgia's three public HBCUs (alongside Fort Valley State and Savannah State) and operates two campuses split by the Flint River — a topographic configuration that creates distinct security perimeters for East and West Campus. The 'This is NOT a test' opener has become a notable marker for post-September-11-2025-wave HBCU alerts — a defensive linguistic adaptation to the swatting era.
Analysis

Key Findings

ASU's emergency alert opening with 'This is NOT a test' is one of the most rhetorically loaded alerts in the archive — a direct response to the hoax-saturated environment of fall 2025
The alert came four days after ASU was itself swatted on September 11, 2025, creating an urgent need to signal authenticity for the real subsequent incident
The shooting occurred off-campus at the Wild Pines Apartments on Sands Drive, demonstrating how adjacent off-campus housing security gaps affect HBCU campus alerting protocols
ASU's two-campus split (East and West, separated by the Flint River) creates distinct security perimeters and required East-Campus-specific alert geography
Outcome
A 17-year-old girl was shot near ASU's East Campus and transported to Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. Police had a significant presence at Wild Pines Apartments on Sands Drive following the shooting; one person was observed in handcuffs. The lockdown was lifted later the same day.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    UPDATE: ASU gives 'all clear' after 17-year-old confirmed shot near campus (WALB)
    walb.com
  2. News
    NEW DETAILS: 17-year-old girl recovering after Albany shooting (WALB)
    walb.com
  3. News
    Teen Shot Near Albany State University (The Georgia Sun)
    thegeorgiasun.com
  4. News
    ASU police address safety concerns following recent shooting incidents near campus (WALB)
    walb.com
  5. national media
    HBCU's under lockdown, including Virginia State University, after receiving threats (CNN)
    cnn.com
Tags
shootinghbcugeorgiaalbanyoff-campus-shootingramalertswatting-aware-languageverbatim-confirmedpost-september-11-hbcu-wave
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion