Campus Alert Archive
ASU

Three Students, Three Yik Yak Posts, Three Buildings Evacuated: ASU's Competitive Bomb-Claim Folly

AZbomb threatemergency notificationmedium confidence
Confirmed HoaxDetermined to be a hoax. The institutional response is documented because it reveals how the alert system performed under a perceived real threat.

Shortly before 9:30 p.m. on September 12, 2022, Arizona State University Police received reports of multiple Yik Yak posts claiming bombs had been placed in the Memorial Union and Hassayampa Residence Hall. The posts escalated into a bizarre one-upmanship: one student wrote 'I put the bomb in the MU,' another replied 'No, I put the bomb in the MU,' and a third chimed in 'It's OK guys we all put the bomb in the MU.' The MU, Hassayampa Academic Village, and Barrett Residential Complex were evacuated and swept overnight; no items of concern were found. Three students were arrested and charged with a felony and four misdemeanors each.

Alerts
2
Response
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Killed
—
Injured
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Institution
Arizona State University
Public R1 · AZ
~83,000 studentsASU Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 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 ALERTTwitter/X
Verified verbatimASU Police Department (@ASUPD) Twitter/X post quoted verbatim by The Arizona State Press; the student paper reported ASUPD tweeted this just before 11:30 p.m. MST on September 12, 2022168 chars
POLICE SITUATION - Tempe campus ASUPD is working a Police Situation at the Memorial Union and Hassayampa Residential Halls. Stay clear of the area until further notice.
ASUPD's first public notification used the generic 'POLICE SITUATION' framing rather than naming a bomb threat, a common de-escalating choice while the threat was still unverified
Names both affected facilities — the Memorial Union and Hassayampa Residential Halls — that were evacuated in response to the Yik Yak posts
Three students had posted competing claims on Yik Yak: 'I put the bomb in the MU,' 'No, I put the bomb in the MU,' and 'It's OK guys we all put the bomb in the MU' — court documents attributed these posts to Benoit and Patton
ALL CLEARSMS
Approximate reconstruction336 chars
ASU Alert: All-clear. The Memorial Union, Hassayampa Academic Village, and Barrett Residential Complex have been thoroughly swept by ASU Police with K-9 units. No items of concern were discovered. Buildings are cleared for re-entry. Three individuals have been identified in connection with the threats and are being taken into custody.

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

K-9 units from ASU Police, Tempe PD, and Chandler PD conducted the overnight sweep
ASU PD spokesperson Adam Wolfe confirmed: 'No items of concern were discovered during the thorough investigation of the facilities'
Arrests were announced on September 14 -- two days after the threats -- when court documents confirmed all three were booked on felony interference/disruption of an educational institution plus four misdemeanor charges
Context

Background

On the evening of September 12, 2022, three Arizona State University students turned a series of anonymous Yik Yak posts into one of the more absurd -- and costly -- campus bomb scares of the year. According to court documents cited by the Arizona State Press, 21-year-old Trevor Benoit wrote 'I put the bomb in the MU' on Yik Yak; 18-year-old Lukas Patton replied 'No, I put the bomb in the MU' and subsequently added 'It's OK guys we all put the bomb in the MU'; 18-year-old Peter Fraenkel also posted a threat referencing Hassayampa. The posts triggered a multi-building evacuation of the Memorial Union -- ASU's main student center -- plus Hassayampa Academic Village and the Barrett Residential Complex. ASU Police, Tempe Police, and Chandler Police deployed K-9 units and swept the buildings overnight; no threats were found. All three students were arrested and charged with a felony count of interference/disruption of an educational institution and four misdemeanor charges. ASU is among the largest universities in the United States by enrollment, and the Memorial Union is a hub for tens of thousands of students -- making the evacuation unusually disruptive. The case is notable for illustrating how Yik Yak's relaunch created an environment where users underestimated law enforcement's ability to trace their posts.
Outcome
No explosives found. Evacuation lasted overnight into September 13. Three students -- Lukas Patton, 18; Peter Fraenkel, 18; and Trevor Benoit, 21 -- arrested and charged with felony interference/disruption of an educational institution and four misdemeanor counts each.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    Multiple bomb threats prompt late-night evacuations at ASU (AZFamily)
    azfamily.com
  2. Student Paper
    'A bad joke': Three ASU students arrested in relation to Monday bomb threats (Arizona State Press)
    statepress.com
  3. News
    3 students arrested after fake bomb threats at Arizona State University in Tempe (AZFamily)
    azfamily.com
  4. News
    Bomb threat at ASU Tempe campus causes campus-wide police search (12News)
    12news.com
  5. Student Paper
    What we know about the ASU bomb threats (Arizona State Press)
    statepress.com
Tags
bomb-threatyik-yaksocial-media-threatstudent-suspectarrest-madearizonatempepublic-r1anonymous-appmulti-agency-responseevening-threatHoax
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion