Teen Terror! 14-Year-Old Faces Charges For Alleged Swatting Incidents in Washington State!
A 14-year-old boy is in hot water after being hit with ten charges for allegedly staging terrifying “swatting” incidents across Washington State! 🌐 #News #LaceyWA #Washington #Crime
TACOMA, WA – A 14-year-old Lacey, Washington state boy has been charged with ten counts of false reporting for allegedly “swatting” several addresses in March, police said.
Swatting involves making a hoax call to 911, reporting a serious enough crime to generate a large law enforcement response at the stated address.
“Obviously, this creates unnecessary safety risks, it is an incredible waste of time and money, and takes valuable time away from citizens who are actually in need of help,” the Lacey Police Department said in a statement Monday.
Police said officers responded to eight swatting calls in Lacey, a suburb of Olympia, in the month of March.
Four of the calls falsely reported domestic violence incidents involving weapons, three of which included claims that someone had been shot. Two calls falsely reported medical emergencies.
One call falsely reported a person wearing a bomb vest, and one call falsely reported someone threatening to kill their entire family.
“All of these calls created a large response to make sure everyone was safe at the reported addresses (all of which had no idea what had been reported), even when we had suspicions of swatting,” police said.
Detectives “worked tirelessly” to obtain search warrants for the phone numbers used in the swatting incidents, and eventually identified a local 14-year-old as the suspect. As a juvenile, police did not publicly named him.
Police said the boy lived in the area of the swatted addresses, allowing him to see details corresponding to a caller on the scene.
“It’s important for people to know that if you place these swatting calls, you can and will be caught,” police said.
“More importantly, the resources used to respond to fake emergencies could be the difference between life and death for someone that actually needs law enforcement assistance.”
Reminder: All parties are considered innocent before proven guilty. Written by TMX staff, with additional reporting by Jack and Kitty Norton.
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