More than 50,000 people in South Austin received a shelter in place alert on Wednesday as a “dangerous and violent” person with outstanding warrants was at large. But the alert didn’t look like others sent by local agencies in the past, and many residents assumed it was a scam text.

Chris Bataska got the alert while he was at his office on Barton Springs Road.

“We’ve had a lot of phishing attempts at the company so my first thought was to email it to IT because it looked like a different link than normal,” he said. “It just created some skepticism.”

Bataska said it would have been helpful if it was clear what law enforcement agency sent the message, and if it included a link with a trusted domain, like “.gov.” The alert was written in all caps, and for some, came with a link that said “please click here to acknowledge receipt of this message.”

South Austin resident John Stolz said he was “slightly confused and a little caught off guard” receiving the message.

“It seemed really spammy,” he said. “It would have been better if it was more clear who [it] was coming from, and it would have been extremely good to know what neighborhoods are affected.”

Stolz said he found people on Reddit had similar reactions.

Roughly 30 minutes after the alert was sent, the Austin Police Department confirmed it was real with a post on X.

APD said the suspect, described as a muscular Black man in his mid-30s wearing a white shirt and a white hat with a red brim, was at large near the St. Elmo neighborhood. They urged the public to stay inside, lock the doors, and call 911 if anyone saw the suspect. The alert was sent to 51,789 people within a one-mile radius of the intersection of Willow Springs Road and Industrial Boulevard.

About 10 minutes later, APD lifted the shelter in place order. On X, the department said “after an extensive search it is believed the subject has fled the area.”

In a statement, APD said it had minor involvement in the incident as it was assisting the Texas Department of Public Safety and the FBI with the operation.

The FBI confirmed the suspect is now in custody.