MEAWW.COM / NEWS / CRIME & JUSTICE

Cops storm Black Texas college student's dorm after White roomies allegedly file fake report in swatting prank

Around 10 students wrongly accused her of threatening to stab others with a pair of scissors

NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS: A Black college cheerleader from Texas says she was the victim of a 'swatting' prank because of a false report filed by her White roommates. 17-year-old Christin Evans revealed that the police had stormed into her dormitory room which she shares with three others around 3 am on September 14 after around 10 students wrongly accused her of threatening to stab others with a pair of scissors, NY Post reports.

While speaking to KTRK in a press conference, Evans who attends Stephen F Austin University, said, "I feel shaken. I can’t sleep at night. It has made me paranoid. I was looking forward to making friends and having a good time on the cheer team." The authorities had alleged burst into her room with guns drawn as a result of the false report. The parents of the teenager along with their attorney had called on the school to take strict action against the group of students responsible for the ordeal with the parents saying that their daughter had been targeted.

Evans' father Chris shared, "Yes, we're upset and we want something to be done about it. When I sent my daughter off to school, my worse-case scenario was that she should call needing money or an issue with her grades." According to her parents, Evans had been sleeping in her dorm room when SFA police officers barged in. The family's' attorney said that the police told Evans that they had received a report stating that she had scissors and was threatening to stab students. The authorities then said that the report had been false. Evans' mother LaShondra shared, "I want justice. I want [the people responsible] to have consequences. They played with her life."

SFA Chief of Police John Fields has launched an investigation into the matter. He said, "a racially diverse group of students were involved in an incident involving a false report. The students will be held accountable for this at every possible level."

The president of SFA released a statement on Twitter and said, "I have directed staff to be thorough and keep me apprised throughout this investigation. Each perpetrator will be dealt with appropriately. My heart goes out to the young lady who was an innocent victim in this matter. We will do all we can to support her and her family through this heinous ordeal. We will not have this at SFA!"

LaShondra and Chris both believe that the prank was racially motivated. "If she would have had something in her bed or if they would've [seen] her phone flash, it's shiny on the back, and they had reported she had a knife... they could've shot her," LaShondra added. 

Social media users have reacted with outrage over the news and took to the comments section to say so. One such user shared, "How the hell did it take him 14 days to be addressed about blatant racism on his campus?! This is the minimum he could have possibly said about what happened. I’ve seen other universities expel students over a tweet the same day it happened. Do better."

Another shared, "This makes me so so sad...This girl was the victim. Not them. And because of White privilege, they may be seen as “victims” and that is not okay. If I ran this school, they’d be expelled. And she’d be on a full scholarship."