Once again, Americans found themselves gripped in dealing with another threat by an alleged gunman. But this time it happened very close to home.

On Thursday morning, reports quickly came into the newsroom of an “active shooter” on the campus of Mississippi State University. In just a matter of moments, social media lit up with parents and students trying frantically to contact one another to make sure and reassure the students were not harmed.

Through their campus alert system, MSU officials were able to quickly notify students and faculty of the situation and to seek shelter. In what had to be some very tense minutes as faculty and students barricaded themselves in rooms on campus, law enforcement was able to track the alleged gunman, an MSU freshman who allegedly made threats to kill himself and harm others, and take him into custody.

Officials did not locate a gun and no injuries were reported. Fortunately, this incident turned out well, which has not been the case in other recent school shootings and acts of gun violence.

Thursday’s incident on the Starkville campus was another reminder of the times we currently live in. Some people may make light of the response by MSU officials for “overreacting” to a threat that turned out to be false, but instead, they should be applauded for taking the threat very seriously and responding appropriately.

A threat of this nature, whether real or not, can cause a great deal of angst and chaos in a matter of minutes, but fortunately with technology through social media, officials were able to alert students and faculty to keep them out of harms way.

(“Our View” is an unsigned editorial representing the general opinion of The Oxford EAGLE editorial board, which includes Publisher Tim Phillips, Editor Stephanie Rebman, Managing Editor Rob Sigler, City Editor Alyssa Schnugg and photographer Bruce Newman.)