Posted on Oct 30, 2022
Those fake active shooter calls to schools? A similar thing happened before
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https://www.npr.org/2022/10/24/ [login to see] /swatting-fake-school-shooter-calls-hoax-pattern
Just before 3 p.m. on a sunny Friday in September, police in Chillicothe, Ohio, received a message from dispatch: an active shooter had reportedly injured 24 students at Chillicothe High School and was still on scene.
Bodycam video shows the fraught minutes that ensued. Officers rushed to the school, some entering with their rifles and pistols drawn, running breathlessly through the hallways to find the right classroom.
But there was no shooter.
Students had been placed on lockdown, police units deployed and school staff were plunged into minutes of terror as a hoax unfolded. After finding no threat at the school, the officers regrouped in a school hallway. One said to the others, "Did you see the email we got today? Swatting. Somebody's swatting the schools."
Similar scenes have played out at schools across the country in recent weeks.
NPR has found local reports indicating 182 schools in 28 states received false calls about threats between Sept. 13 and Oct. 21. These have prompted a response known as "swatting," where law enforcement swarms a location where a crime is reportedly in progress. Swatting incidents can be particularly dangerous, as officers often enter with force, guns drawn.
Just before 3 p.m. on a sunny Friday in September, police in Chillicothe, Ohio, received a message from dispatch: an active shooter had reportedly injured 24 students at Chillicothe High School and was still on scene.
Bodycam video shows the fraught minutes that ensued. Officers rushed to the school, some entering with their rifles and pistols drawn, running breathlessly through the hallways to find the right classroom.
But there was no shooter.
Students had been placed on lockdown, police units deployed and school staff were plunged into minutes of terror as a hoax unfolded. After finding no threat at the school, the officers regrouped in a school hallway. One said to the others, "Did you see the email we got today? Swatting. Somebody's swatting the schools."
Similar scenes have played out at schools across the country in recent weeks.
NPR has found local reports indicating 182 schools in 28 states received false calls about threats between Sept. 13 and Oct. 21. These have prompted a response known as "swatting," where law enforcement swarms a location where a crime is reportedly in progress. Swatting incidents can be particularly dangerous, as officers often enter with force, guns drawn.
Those fake active shooter calls to schools? A similar thing happened before
Posted from npr.org
Firearms and Guns
Schools
Children
Fraud
Crime
Posted >1 y ago
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Unlike Uvalde, these brave Officers actively responded to ensure the safety of the Students and Faculty. They all deserve recognition of their Bravery.
Too bad they have not been able to identify and prosecute the individual or individuals that posed this hoax.
Too bad they have not been able to identify and prosecute the individual or individuals that posed this hoax.
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I was thinking the same thing as I read the article.
The hoaxers will eventually be located though I wouldn't be surprised if it is mid January 2024, before the "searches" end in arrests.
The hoaxers will eventually be located though I wouldn't be surprised if it is mid January 2024, before the "searches" end in arrests.
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."The challenge of investigating
Mack of the Bossier Parish Sheriff's Office said she took the investigation in the Benton High School hoax bomb alert as far as she could.
"Because obviously we can't go to Ethiopia," she said, "and I have never had, in my personal experience as a police officer, anybody from Ethiopia co-operate with an investigation in United States."
Mack said when she investigated the false bomb alert in April, there was no indication that federal authorities were paying attention to the scheme. But with the recent wave of hoax active shooter calls, police at the state level in several places and the FBI are taking an interest. The agency has said "we will continue to work with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners to gather, share, and act upon threat information as it comes to our attention."
Several localities denied open records requests from NPR, citing pending investigations by higher authorities. Nonetheless, information that others have released has shown that the active shooter scheme may be much wider-reaching than the bomb hoax was in the spring.
Between Sept. 19 and 23, at least eight different phone numbers were used to make false calls about active shooters. Of those, NPR confirmed that six numbers are offered through TextNow. Calls to the other two numbers either failed or were not returned.
Although it's understood that swatting can have dangerous, and sometimes even fatal, results, experts say it's too often left to local agencies to investigate. In a widespread, and seemingly coordinated, scheme such as the current wave of active shooter threats, that approach may not be sufficient. Hendricks said it is heartening to see that federal authorities are taking an interest.
"I really feel that it's something we view more of a nuisance versus something that can be investigated and hold these people accountable," he said. "That's something that hopefully changes."
In all this, the motive itself remains a mystery.
"I don't know. [Maybe it's] some type of what they think is an assault on the American way of life," Mack said. "Especially disrupting schools, scaring parents and teachers and children. So I don't know if that is what their gain is, just to cause that chaos."
..."The challenge of investigating
Mack of the Bossier Parish Sheriff's Office said she took the investigation in the Benton High School hoax bomb alert as far as she could.
"Because obviously we can't go to Ethiopia," she said, "and I have never had, in my personal experience as a police officer, anybody from Ethiopia co-operate with an investigation in United States."
Mack said when she investigated the false bomb alert in April, there was no indication that federal authorities were paying attention to the scheme. But with the recent wave of hoax active shooter calls, police at the state level in several places and the FBI are taking an interest. The agency has said "we will continue to work with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners to gather, share, and act upon threat information as it comes to our attention."
Several localities denied open records requests from NPR, citing pending investigations by higher authorities. Nonetheless, information that others have released has shown that the active shooter scheme may be much wider-reaching than the bomb hoax was in the spring.
Between Sept. 19 and 23, at least eight different phone numbers were used to make false calls about active shooters. Of those, NPR confirmed that six numbers are offered through TextNow. Calls to the other two numbers either failed or were not returned.
Although it's understood that swatting can have dangerous, and sometimes even fatal, results, experts say it's too often left to local agencies to investigate. In a widespread, and seemingly coordinated, scheme such as the current wave of active shooter threats, that approach may not be sufficient. Hendricks said it is heartening to see that federal authorities are taking an interest.
"I really feel that it's something we view more of a nuisance versus something that can be investigated and hold these people accountable," he said. "That's something that hopefully changes."
In all this, the motive itself remains a mystery.
"I don't know. [Maybe it's] some type of what they think is an assault on the American way of life," Mack said. "Especially disrupting schools, scaring parents and teachers and children. So I don't know if that is what their gain is, just to cause that chaos."
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Similar to the old days, Bomb Scares, even students were calling in, to get their girlfriends out of class for the day.
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