A civilian employee with the Navy admitted Wednesday to falsely reporting an active shooter at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey.

Base emergency protocols were activated, and law enforcement officials arrived on the scene Tuesday after Malika Brittingham said she heard five to six gun shots.

Brittingham first reported the alleged shots in a text message to her co-worker whom she told she was hiding in a closet along with others, according to a criminal complaint filed by federal prosecutors.

Eventually prosecutors say she recanted the story, admitting she falsely reported an active shooter on campus after feeling excluded by her co-workers, according to the complaint. Brittingham said she and her colleagues could “trauma bond” over the shared experience, the complaint said.

Prosecutors are charging Brittingham for knowingly conveying false information about an active shooter who didn’t exist.

She was taken into custody Tuesday afternoon, according to NBC 10.

“This kind of senseless fear-mongering and disruption will not be tolerated in my state,” Alina Habba, acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, wrote in a post on social platform X.

“After everything this country has gone through, especially in light of current events, I will be sure to bring down the hammer of the law for anyone found guilty of creating unnecessary panic and undermining public trust.”