[P]olice say the credibility of threats to Essex High School, which resulted in lockdowns at area schools Wednesday, has “greatly diminished” after their initial investigation.
The Essex Police Department said in a statement Thursday that its “investigative efforts and analysis of the (threatening) call have found many consistencies with ‘swatting.’”
Swatting is the practice of making a hoax call to emergency services in an effort to bring a large number of armed police to a specific address.
Police say their investigation into who called in the threats and what motivated the suspect is ongoing. The caller made demands and threatened to harm people at the high school using guns and bombs if the demands weren’t met, police said.
Officers will maintain a presence at the high school “as a safety measure” for the time being, the police statement said.
Wednesday’s lockdowns were a fraught episode for the Essex community, where five people were shot, two fatally, at an elementary school in 2006.
The term “swatting” comes from the name of SWAT — specialized weapons and tactics — teams, which often respond to threats of armed violence. Swatting hoaxes, which grew popular though online video game culture, have led to criminal charges, injury and the waste of police resources.
In a 2015 incident, a United Kingdom man, impersonating a Maryland resident, called a U.S. terrorism hotline saying he was armed and would kill hostages if police didn’t deliver cash to his home. Police responding to the incident shot the Maryland man, Tyran Dobbs, in the face and chest with rubber bullets, causing him serious injury, according to a report by the Independent.
This week, Robert McDaid, 21, of Coventry, England, was charged criminally in the United States and faces up to a 20-year prison sentence if convicted. A U.S. resident and fellow gamer, Zachary Lee, is also charged with encouraging McDaid to make the swatting call, according to the Independent.