A juvenile has been charged with making a false emergency call about a threat at Council Rock High School South in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, prompting a 34-minute lockdown and drawing a heavy police response.
The incident was one of several swatting incidents that targeted US high schools and colleges over the summer and fall. Swatting is a hoax report to police intended to create a large-scale emergency response, often at schools and places of worship.
According to the Bucks County District Attorney's Office, an investigation by Northampton Township Police, the DA's office, and the FBI led to the charges. The juvenile was not named, and no further details about the charges were released.
The incident began on October 1 when a 911 call reported a crisis at Council Rock South, triggering an immediate lockdown at the school and drawing police from multiple towns. Authorities later determined there was no credible threat, and students were sent home after receiving an all-clear from police.
"It's absolutely unacceptable to allow for this type of criminal conduct to go unchecked," said Bucks County DA Jennifer Schorn. "We live in a society where fear of school shootings is very real."
Similar incidents have been reported at other US colleges, including Villanova University and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Researchers have linked swatting calls to an online group called Purgatory, which operates as part of a decentralized network that carries out false shooter reports and bomb scares for money.
Lawmakers in Pennsylvania are seeking to create new laws to hold swatters accountable, citing a lack of current felony law in the state to charge perpetrators. Two bills have been introduced: one would make swatting a felony offense with penalties including reimbursement costs for emergency responders, while another would add a sentencing enhancement to terroristic threats against schools.
The case highlights concerns about domestic terrorism and the need for stronger laws to combat these types of incidents.
The incident was one of several swatting incidents that targeted US high schools and colleges over the summer and fall. Swatting is a hoax report to police intended to create a large-scale emergency response, often at schools and places of worship.
According to the Bucks County District Attorney's Office, an investigation by Northampton Township Police, the DA's office, and the FBI led to the charges. The juvenile was not named, and no further details about the charges were released.
The incident began on October 1 when a 911 call reported a crisis at Council Rock South, triggering an immediate lockdown at the school and drawing police from multiple towns. Authorities later determined there was no credible threat, and students were sent home after receiving an all-clear from police.
"It's absolutely unacceptable to allow for this type of criminal conduct to go unchecked," said Bucks County DA Jennifer Schorn. "We live in a society where fear of school shootings is very real."
Similar incidents have been reported at other US colleges, including Villanova University and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Researchers have linked swatting calls to an online group called Purgatory, which operates as part of a decentralized network that carries out false shooter reports and bomb scares for money.
Lawmakers in Pennsylvania are seeking to create new laws to hold swatters accountable, citing a lack of current felony law in the state to charge perpetrators. Two bills have been introduced: one would make swatting a felony offense with penalties including reimbursement costs for emergency responders, while another would add a sentencing enhancement to terroristic threats against schools.
The case highlights concerns about domestic terrorism and the need for stronger laws to combat these types of incidents.
. 34 minutes of lockdown? That's insane. I feel so bad for the kids and parents who were waiting around, not knowing what was going on. And let me get how the police and emergency responders must be feeling... stressed, worried, and just ready to go home 
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. And now lawmakers are trying to create new laws to stop it. It's like, common sense, right? We need stricter penalties for people who do this kind of thing 
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. I'm all for wanting to hold people accountable for their actions, but we gotta be careful not to overstep our bounds either 
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anyway, back to swatting... i mean, can you even imagine being a cop or an emergency responder and having to deal with all those fake emergencies? 
that's just super stressful... maybe we should all just take a deep breath and appreciate the fact that our schools are safe (most of the time) 
. I mean, we can't just let people do whatever they want and expect everyone else to be fine with it, that's not how society works 
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. It's just common sense, shouldn't we have some consequences for this kind of behavior? I get where authorities are trying to handle the situation carefully and all-clear the school, but still, a 34-minute lockdown is ridiculous 
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. I think lawmakers in PA are on the right track with their bills to make swatting a felony offense, but we need to see how those actually play out in court 
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This whole swatting thing is just wild 
It's not just the fear for yourself that's scary, but also the impact on first responders who have to drop everything to respond to a fake emergency.
Either way, stronger laws are definitely needed to stop this kind of thing from happening again.
. That's just wrong and needs to be addressed ASAP 
. 34 minutes is ages in lockdown mode - what if something actually had happened?! 
Anyway, I'm all for stricter laws and harsher penalties on swatters, like the bills being introduced in PA. It's just not right that they can just get away with this stuff 
But on the other hand, if we don't have laws against it, then what's gonna stop someone else from doing it? 
It's all super confusing...
?!? The fact that researchers linked swatting calls to this online group Purgatory is just wild 
? About time! 