Staff and students from the Kensington campus were alerted of the threat, said to be non-specific, via social media on Monday afternoon.
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UNSW says it is liaising with the liaising with anti-terrorism and local police after a post appeared on the controversial messaging board 4chan.
Honi understands that the Kensington campus of UNSW is now on high alert, after a series of posts on newsboard 4Chan told students at UNSW “I finally managed to get a handgun”. You wouldn’t like to think that would happen as well in Australia.
Other threats of shootings at colleges in America have been posted on 4Chan in recent weeks.
The university was made aware of a disturbing post, published to anonymous forum 4chan, reported Pedestrian TV.
Even though classes on Monday (Oct 12) were continuing as normal, students had been told that if they were to leave the campus, they would not be penalised, said the report.
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New South Wales Police Detective Superintendent Gavin Dengate said authorities and security would remain on campus throughout the day. “We are dealing with a threat made online in relation to someone with a firearm”. Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Jacobs said the university is working with police and community services to investigate where the threat came from. The gunman had reportedly been radicalized by Islamic extremists over the last few months.
