Usually Jodel, an app similar to Twitter, is filled with drunken regret, anxiety for upcoming exams and other parts of a student’s life, but not on the 11th of October. On the 11th of October someone posted a message on Jodel warning people of going to Lund university and instead watch the news. The threat, sent via Jodel, was a translation of the threat posted on 4chan before the school shooting in Oregon the previous week. The university in collaboration with the police considered the threat to be serious and decided to shut down the entire university the following day.
With the university closed the police started an investigation in order to find the author of the message. The hunt of finding the perpetrator proved to be more complicated than first thought. The Jodel seems to have been sent from Örebro using an app that redirects the GPS signal. By using apps like the one in this case it becomes much more complicated, if not impossible, for the police to track you. So without any repercussions the same person seems to have sent similar threats to other universities.
Even though no one has been caught or suspected for the crime, an anonymous user on the website 4chan has claimed to be the author of the Jodel. The user was later celebrated on 4chan for provoking the “normies”, a term used by members of 4chan to describe, by their standards, boring and politically correct people. Other people have claimed, or more likely joked about, the threat being sent in order to postpone exams or as a prank. It being a joke, a prank or an attempt to postpone an exam is however very unlikely as the evidence contradicts it and the person who sent the threat would most likely then have been caught.
In summary it can be said that the person who sent the threat was most likely not present in Lund and not going to follow through with it as he or she had sent threats before without any action. However it cannot be assumed that the person would not have followed through so perhaps it was wise to close the university.
