Killings threat disturbing, say students from Tauranga

Steph Taylor attends Otago University. Photo / Supplied

Frustrating, worrying and "inconvenient" is how two Tauranga locals studying at Otago University have described an online threat of mass shootings.

This week, an anonymous user posted the threat on the message forum 4Chan warning the university's students not to go to class because there would be a mass shooting similar to the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, in which 32 people died.

Tauranga-born Steph Taylor, in her first year of her two-year Masters in Planning studies at Otago, told the Bay of Plenty Times the threat was probably a hoax, but still a "bit worrying".

"If it was meant to be a joke, it's not a very funny one. It's highly inconvenient ... exams start next week," she said.

Ms Taylor, 22, said extra security personnel, as well as plain-clothes police, had been seen on campus.

An outdoor lunch area in the main campus was almost deserted: "It's a bit eerie ... it was packed on Tuesday."

Her parents had urged her to stay home, but she needed to go in to collect papers.

James Gilling, 20, son of Tauranga urologist Peter Gilling, is studying for Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degrees at Otago.

He said the threat was inconvenient: "I don't expect anything will actually happen but ... you have to treat it as serious."

Some lectures were cancelled yesterday and he studied in the medical library instead, among fewer people than usual.

Meanwhile, the Murphy building of Victoria University was evacuated yesterday after a bomb threat. Police found no suspicious items.

- additional reporting NZME