FBI Hunts School ‘Swatter’ Who Sent A Bomb Hoax To Sandy Hook

Earlier this year, Sandy Hook, the scene of America’s deadliest school shooting that left 26 dead, received a voicemail. The caller claimed he had placed bombs around the school, targeting first graders and kindergarteners. The police were called, surveillance footage reviewed, and it was determined there was no imminent threat to life.

But the call was part of a spree of hoax calls in which the voice on the other end claimed to be the “next mass shooter of 2023,” leading to lockdowns and police raids at seven schools across Riverside County and San Bernardino County, California, in January and February this year, according to a search warrant obtained by Forbes. It details an FBI investigation that comes amidst a wave of hoax calls that have led to panic across American schools throughout the last year. Per a Washington Post report this week, as many as 500 schools have been hit by hoax shooting calls in the last 18 months.

Whilst investigators in those cases have struggled to find the perpetrator, in California, the FBI has a named suspect. Agents gathered evidence suggesting the suspect — a Riverside resident — was trying to “swat” the son of his former property manager, a Navy reservist. With so-called “swatting,” the perpetrator calls an institution or 911 and tries to get cops to send armed police to a target residence, usually as a dangerous prank. In the California case, the caller identified himself as the Navy reservist, though no motive was revealed. (As no charges have yet been filed, Forbes is withholding the suspect and victim names. The Department of Justice declined to comment.)

Read more: Forbes