![]() This is likely an undercount, as many locations may not have garnered media attention. Louisiana, Minnesota and Virginia tallied the greatest number. NPR has found, primarily through local news reports, at least 113 instances of hoax calls across 19 states between Sept. The recent targeting of institutions, namely schools, appears to be a new development. Those have included live-gaming communities and extremist groups, where perpetrators aim to harass specific individuals. “It was popularized by extremely online communities with proclivities toward violence and perceived ideological enemies,” said Conley. The results can be quite dangerous, as they were in a fatal incident in 2017, when police swatted a man in Wichita, Kansas. They are intended to set off a massive and immediate deployment of armed law enforcement to a specific target, including SWAT teams. The hoaxes are called “swatting,” a term that refers to calls that falsely report an act of violence in progress or about to occur. “Is it the public? Law enforcement? Media? Something else? And why they’re after it?” Swatting as the new 'bomb threat' “Our big questions now are whose attention are they after?” she said. The FBI would not comment on this detail.įor Conley, particulars around these calls suggest that the people or person behind them are, indeed, overseas. But some news reports, including in Minnesota and Louisiana, have cited local authorities who said the calls may be originating in Africa or, specifically, Ethiopia. The agency said it is working with law enforcement at every level to investigate the cases. In a statement, the FBI has said it is aware of the incidents, but has “no information to indicate a specific and credible threat.” Nobody has taken credit for these calls, even as they stretched over several weeks, and the technological planning and research behind the calls betrayed a level of sophistication not typically seen. Elements of these calls were notably different than what she has typically seen in school-based threats. So somebody is putting significant effort to keep these going.”Īs Conley began digging further, more questions emerged. They are grouped state-by-state and district-by-district, and they’re also sustained. ![]() “The scale and the timeline of the events is highly, highly unusual,” she said. Conley, an extremism researcher who studies groups and people behind public displays of violence, said she found no indication that these calls were connected to fringe online spaces where these pranks often originate.īut as the number of these reports swelled over time, Conley said she began to discern some very strange patterns - including the possibility that the calls may have come from overseas, and perhaps specifically from Africa. When Emmi Conley first heard in September about a rash of hoax calls reporting active shooters in schools, she dismissed it.
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