According to the FBI, almost a thousand terrorist threats occur each day . I was at my second day of a Model UN conference on Saturday, Jan.7 at Hershey, Penn. when I experienced one of those threats firsthand.

I was heading to dinner when people from my group and I were called over by our supervisors for an “important announcement.” 70 students from my delegation gathered in the main dining hall, along with hundreds from all over the conference. No one knew what the issue was, and I was as confused as everyone else.

The supervisors informed us that the entire hotel had just experienced a terrorist threat.

Everyone, including myself, was visibly shocked, but listened as the advisers filled in all the important deals.

An anonymous person using the app Yik Yak, a social media app that geolocates users with people from their area, posted with the handle @MUNShooter. Many believe MUN stood for Model UN. The message said “Don’t go to MUN tomorrow.”

Upon discovery of the threat, students were placed in lockdown in their committee rooms for a few hours. But many were unaware of the lockdown while it was happening because we were supposed to be in our committee rooms anyway.

Rumors spread about police dogs searching the area, but they were mostly dismissed by the students at the conference. They were true as while we were still in lockdown the area was being searched heavily.

Eventually, the lockdown was concluded when staff at the conference worked in collaboration with the police and Yik Yak to identify the poster, and the suspect was arrested around four hours after his or her post.

The suspect’s identity was kept a secret, due to him or her being a minor, but it is known that he or she was arrested and will be tried for terroristic threats according to YMCA staff, who helped run the event.

There were several other mimics on the app who posted similar messages, likely mocking the suspect’s message. The mimics’ identities were also discovered, but no criminal charges were pressed according to conference staff.

I think most people don’t think a terrorist threat can happen to them, and that it’s only something that happens on the news. If there’s anything I learned from the experience as a whole it’s that terrorism is not just an issue you hear about on the news, and that it can affect us all greatly.