PRESTON, MD - A Caroline County teenager has been charged in two swatting incidents that occurred in Ohio and Pennsylvania last year.
Swatting is the act of calling 9-1-1 and faking an emergency situation to draw a law enforcement response, particularly a police SWAT team. According to the FBI, these calls are dangerous to both first responders and to victims.
The Caroline County Sheriff’s Office says on May 6th, 2023 Hamilton County Ohio Communications Center received a call with the caller claiming he had just shot his mother and brother at home. The caller further claimed he would shoot at first responders. The call resulted in a couple and their five children being ordered out of their house while police investigated, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Then, on May 7th of last year, a caller reported an active shooter on the campus of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and that multiple people had been shot. Police and tactical units converged and all campus operations were ceased, the Sheriff’s Office says. Police say this call was also determined to be a swatting call.
Both incidents were turned over to the FBI whose investigation revealed one of the participants in the swatting calls was a 17-year-old male in Preston, according to police. The FBI and the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office executed a search of the 17-year-old’s home on April 2nd, 2024 and obtained various pieces of electronic equipment. Police say the teen was cooperative and admitted to his involvement.
The 17-year-old has been referred to the Department of Juvenile Justice on two counts of Serious Injury/False Report of an Emergency/Crime (felony).