What is ‘swatting’? The ‘prank’ terrorising US schools and baffling police

Published

3 years ago

February 12, 2023

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Jenna Kochenauer was heading to lunch with colleagues when a police car sped past her.

“Then I saw a second one heading in that direction and I thought, huh, I wonder what’s going on,” she says.

“I reached over and turned on my police scanner, which I carry with me, and I started hearing about a possible shooting at the school that my kids go to”.

Jenna said she didn’t panic straight away but instead just focused on finding out if her children were safe.

Kennewick police department, in Washington state, had received a call about an active shooter at Southridge High School, which Jenna’s children attend.

There were gunshots, the caller said, and a man wearing all black and carrying a rifle was on the premises.

The school was quickly placed in a lockdown. Nobody could enter or leave. Police arrived within minutes.

Jenna’s youngest son was sheltering in a Spanish classroom. The teacher closed the blinds, barricaded the door and tried to keep the students calm as police swept through the school in search of the gunman.

But there never was a shooter. The call to the police was fake.

And Southridge High is not the only school in the US where this has happened.

What is swatting?

“Swatting” is when a person calls the police, pretending to report a crime, only for officers to turn up with no emergency in sight.

The term was first used by the FBI in 2008 and stems from the highly trained SWAT teams that often attend serious crimes like school shootings. The phenomenon is not distinct to the US. The UK has also recorded its share of swatting incidents, notably Mumsnet founder Justine Roberts who woke up to armed police at her door after a fake report of a gunman nearby.

It became a popular prank or harassment tactic amongst online communities, often in a way to escalate arguments, and occasionally with deadly consequences. In 2017, Andrew Finch from Kansas was shot dead at this home by police after a swatting prank between gamers went wrong.

While sometimes ending tragically, they are often one-off incidents, targeting an individual because of a grievance or some other motive.

The spree targeting US schools is being conducted on a huge scale and seems to be without a clear pattern or motivation.

Swatting calls have targeted a majority of US states

Schools have occasionally been swatted by students playing a prank.

But the latest spree, which started in the US in September 2022, has been so coordinated and affected so many states that the FBI has deemed it worthy of investigation.

“It’s pretty bizarre,” says Mo Canady, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO), which provides training to law enforcement officers based in schools.

“We’ve been used to dealing with [bomb threats] and schools have become pretty good at it. This phenomenon of calling in an active shooter event is quite new.”

NASRO estimates this spree has so far affected 40 states, a figure that is based on based on their tracking of local news coverage.

And some of these hoaxes are even happening on the same day. On 14 September 2022, at least two schools in Texas were sent into panic after calls reported active shooters. By the end of the week, schools in Kansas, California, Illinois and Missouri had all experienced the same.

Since then, dozens of schools have been targeted, many of them being swatted within hours of each other.

In the case of Southridge High, three other high schools in the area also went into lockdown after similar calls, and eight schools in nearby Montana were forced to do the same.

“It’s your worst day, right? Those types of calls, mass shooting. We train for them, and we’re prepared for them, but we hope they never come,” says Christian Walters, commander at the Kennewick Police Department.

He tells Sky News that 24 similar “incidents” were recorded within an hour of the call in a “coordinated effort” along the West Coast, ranging from California to Alaska.

Why are schools being swatted?

“It’s not just kids making prank phone calls,” says James Turgal, a former FBI assistant director who worked in its information and technology branch.

“If you listen, and I listened to the actual caller, it’s clearly an adult who’s doing this,” he tells Sky News.

“What’s the motivation? Why would somebody do this? Are they just trying to terrorise people? Are they being paid to do it?”

Turgal, now vice president of cyber risk and strategy at Optiv Security, says the caller seemed calm, despite the terrifying situation they were supposed to be in.

“You could tell it was staged,” he says.

Turgal served in the FBI for 21 years and still finds these calls baffling and sinister.

“Somebody could be utilising this technique to do the swatting calls because they’re sitting back and looking at how fast [the police] actually respond. What is the number of officers that respond? How do they do it? But that possibility doesn’t make a lot of sense given the randomness of the states.”

There doesn’t seem to be a specific state or school district the caller is trying to gather information on.

Hoax calls ‘are like putting gasoline on the fire’

While the incidents only last a few hours, the impact on the students, staff and parents caught up in them can be long-lasting.

“We’re already dealing, worldwide, with a lot of mental health issues, especially among adolescents. This is a bit like putting gasoline on the fire,” says Mo Canady, a former police lieutenant.

Canady’s organisation, NASRO, issued guidance to schools in September to deal with swatting, including being aware of the needs of vulnerable students who may find the ordeal more stressful.

The police and firefighters attending to these hoax calls also experience real emotional trauma.

“This takes a tremendous toll on officers who think they’re walking into what could be the most horrific thing they’ve ever seen in their careers,” Canady says.

Plus, these callouts are a huge drain on resources, pulling in police, firefighters and paramedics from local and state level, and leaving other areas vulnerable to crime.

Schools and communities remain defiant

After a period of quiet over January, this week multiple schools across Michigan, Vermont and California were the latest victims of the swatting calls.

Vermont State Police said the calls are reported to have come from “VOIP phone numbers or potentially spoofed 802 numbers” and appear to be part of an “ongoing nationwide hoax”.

VoIP numbers are real phone numbers but they operate over the internet, and can be used to hide the caller’s location.

The calls were an “act of terrorism”, according to Vermont Governor Phil Scott in a statement.

The FBI told Sky News it is urging the public to stay vigilant of any suspicious behaviour.

While the motive behind the calls is a mystery, the drain on resources and emotional impact is a real issues local communities must grapple with.

Sanford High in Maine is another school to have been rocked by a hoax call. A week after the incident, students wrote an article for their online newspaper, the Spartan Times, titled ‘November 15 wasn’t a hoax to us’, referring to the day SWAT teams filled their school hunting for a shooter and students barricaded themselves inside classrooms.

“To us it was real,” it reads, “to us, our lives were in danger”.

The piece ends with a defiant statement: “We are not broken. Our community will continue to come together and thrive in times of need.”

It seems clear the US will continue to be unsettled by these random attacks, but the schools, and the services that protect them, are determined not to be defeated.

US

Obamas planned to see Reiners the night they were killed, says ex-US first lady

Published

5 hours ago

December 17, 2025

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Obamas planned to see Reiners the night they were killed, says ex-US first lady

Michelle Obama says she and husband Barack Obama were due to see director Rob Reiner and his photographer wife Michele Reiner the night they were killed.

The former US first lady has paid tribute to the couple, who were found stabbed to death in their Los Angeles home on Sunday night.

The Reiners’ son, Nick, 32, was arrested and will be charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of his parents.

Speaking on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Ms Obama said of the Hollywood couple: “We’ve known them for many, many years, and we were supposed to be seeing them that night.”

Rob Reiner was active in politics, supporting liberal causes.

Ms Obama’s comments came after Donald Trump suggested the 78-year-old died because of his anti-Trump views.

He referred to the director as “tortured and struggling” and said he and his 68-year-old wife had died “reportedly due to the anger he caused” by opposing the Republican president.

Reiners were ‘not deranged’

Ms Obama said: “Let me just say this, unlike some people, Rob and Michele Reiner are some of the most decent, courageous people you ever want to know.

“They are not deranged or crazed. What they have always been are passionate people in a time when there’s not a lot of courage going on.”

The former first lady highlighted how caring the couple were; stating they cared about their family, country and fairness and equality.

In a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump suggested the Reiners died “reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as Trump derangement syndrome”.

“He was known to have driven people crazy by his raging obsession of President Donald J Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness, and with the Golden Age of America upon us, perhaps like never before.”

Rob Reiner was known for directing some of the most-loved films of the 1980s and 1990s, including the rom-com When Harry Met Sally and the legal thriller A Few Good Men.

Tributes pour in

Former US presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton as well as former US speaker Nancy Pelosi also paid tribute to the director.

Mr Obama added: “Beneath all of the stories he produced was a deep belief in the goodness of people – and a lifelong commitment to putting that belief into action.”

Among the other high-profile figures paying tribute was actress Jamie Lee Curtis, who played Reiner’s ex-wife in the hit comedy series New Girl. She said: “I will always remember them as they lived. Passionate. Political. Surrounded by family and friends.”

US actor Kevin Bacon, who starred in A Few Good Men, appeared emotional in a video he shared on Instagram, praising the director for giving him the role.

Bacon said: “The making of that movie was one of the best experiences that I’ve ever had on a set.

“It was a magical time. So, I’m just sending love to everybody that knew him, because I know that everyone’s hurting today.”

Reiner’s other films included The Princess Bride (1987), Ghosts Of Mississippi (1996) The Story Of Us (1999), The Magic Of Belle Isle (2012) and LBJ (2016).

Actress and activist Jane Fonda said she was “reeling with grief” in a post on Instagram, while Stephen King, whose books were adapted into Reiner’s 1986 Stand By Me and 1990’s Misery, said he was “horrified and saddened” by the death of the Reiners.

US

Doctor sentenced over Matthew Perry’s death

Published

5 hours ago

December 17, 2025

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Doctor sentenced over Matthew Perry's death

A doctor has been sentenced to eight months of home confinement over the fatal overdose of Friends star Matthew Perry after pleading guilty to a drugs charge.

Mark Chavez, whose sentence included three years of supervised release, addressed the judge on Tuesday, saying he had recently lost a loved one and understood the grief that Perry’s death caused.

“I just want to say my heart goes out to the Perry family,” he added.

Mr Chavez admitted to selling ketamine to another doctor, Salvador Plasencia, who supplied ketamine to Perry.

Plasencia contacted Chavez, 55, after learning that Perry, whose history of drug addiction was well documented, was interested in obtaining ketamine.

In text messages, Plasencia told Chavez – who previously ran a ketamine clinic – “I wonder how much this moron will pay” and “Lets [sic] find out”.

Chavez, who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, admitted in his plea agreement to diverting ketamine from his former clinic to sell to Plasencia.

He also admitted to making false representations to a wholesale ketamine distributor in a bid to get more of the drug for Plasencia, submitting a bogus prescription in the name of a former patient without her knowledge or consent.

Plasencia was introduced to Perry in September 2023 by one of his patients, who described the actor as a “high profile person” willing to pay “cash and lots of thousands” for ketamine.

The same day they met, the doctor contacted Chavez, and drove to Costa Mesa to purchase $795 (£590) in ketamine vials and tablets, syringes, and gloves from him.

Plasencia then drove to Perry’s Los Angeles home, injected the star with ketamine, and left at least one more vial of ketamine with Perry’s assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, 60, who paid the doctor $4,500 (£3,350).

Plasencia is said to have distributed 20 vials and multiple tablets to Iwamasa and Perry, netting $57,000 (£42,500) from 30 September to 12 October, 2023, despite the going price of ketamine being roughly $15 (£11) per vial.

The 44-year-old was jailed for two-and-a-half years on 3 December after pleading guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine, having already surrendered his California medical license.

However, he did not supply the dose that killed Perry, who was found drowned in his hot tub at home after taking ketamine in October 2023.

Iwamasa, 60, admitted to repeatedly injecting Perry with ketamine, despite having no medical training, including multiple times on the day he died.

He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death and will be sentenced in January.

Also charged is Erik Fleming, 54, who admitted in court documents that he supplied the ketamine that killed Perry, having distributed 50 vials to Iwamasa – half of them four days before Perry died.

He further stated he obtained the drug from 42-year-old Jasveen Sangha, a dual US-UK citizen, nicknamed the “Ketamine Queen”.

Fleming pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death.

Sangha pleaded guilty to one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of distribution of ketamine, and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury.

They will be sentenced in January and February respectively.

Perry had been taking ketamine legally as a treatment for depression, but sought more of the drug and started taking it unsupervised in the weeks before his death, acquiring it illegally from different sources.

The actor starred in 10 seasons of Friends, from 1994 to 2004, alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer, as well as appearing in the 2021 reunion show.

US

Brown University shooting: New image and video released of ‘person of interest’

Published

5 hours ago

December 17, 2025

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Brown University shooting: New image and video released of 'person of interest'

Police investigating a deadly shooting at a US university have released a new image and video clips of a “person of interest”.

It comes as the manhunt for a gunman who killed two Brown University students and injured nine more in a classroom continued for a fourth day.

The shooting on Saturday afternoon unfolded on the first floor of the engineering and physics building while exams were taking place.

A law enforcement official said the attacker fired more than 40 rounds from a 9mm handgun in Providence, Rhode Island.

The new image showed a man dressed in dark clothing, wearing a black hat and face mask, walking down a street that day.

In all of the videos made public, the suspect’s face was either covered by a mask or turned away. He is described as stocky and about 5ft 8in (173cm) tall.

Authorities have released a video timeline showing the movements of the person of interest, including of him before the attack, in the hope that someone might recognise him.

The clips showed a man walking briskly, and at one point running, between 2pm and 3pm local time, along several different streets, about a block away from the building where the attack would later take place.

The shooting happened at 4.03pm, and another clip showed the same person from a distance walking from the building’s car park towards the street, even as police cars with flashing lights arrived at the scene.

The final clip showed the man walking along that street about three minutes after the shooting.

Authorities on Sunday released a man who had been detained in connection with the attack.

Police have said there was no clear video of the gunman from inside the building.

Attorney general Peter Neronha said there were cameras in the newer part but “fewer, if any, cameras” where the shooting happened “because it’s an older building”.

The attack and the gunman’s escape have sparked concerns about campus safety, including the absence of security cameras, and led to calls for improved door locks.

More details about victims emerge

The students who were killed were Ella Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore from Birmingham, Alabama, and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, an 18-year-old freshman from Brandermill, Virginia.

Ms Cook was vice president of the College Republicans club at Brown University and Mr Umurzokov, whose family came to the US from Uzbekistan when he was a child, was an aspiring neurosurgeon.

The Reverend R Craig Smalley described Ms Cook as “an incredibly grounded, faithful, bright light” who encouraged and “lifted up those around her”.

In a GoFundMe post, Mr Umurzokov’s family described him as “incredibly kind, funny, and smart”.

“He always lent a helping hand to anyone in need without hesitation, and was the most kind-hearted person our family knew,” they said.