An 11-year-old boy in Virginia made the swatting calls that disrupted Flagler County Schools toward the end of the last school year, according to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.
The child admitted to making all the threatening calls in Flagler County as well as making a threatening a call to the Maryland state government.
The child also had videos of animals being killed and said he was being paid in cryptocurrency to make swatting calls, Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said.
He told deputies that every news report about his swatting was a trophy to him.
He was arrested and charged with 14 felony counts of false reports and other felony charges.
He is being held in Virginia in a juvenile detention facility and he will be extradited to Florida to face the charges.
Swatting calls disrupted end of school year in Flagler County
The sheriff’s office received a call around 2:50 p.m. May 14 from someone threatening to shoot up Buddy Taylor Middle School. Students had been released by then indicating that the caller didn’t know much about the school, Staly said at the time. But 24 units responded to search the school and determined there was no threat. The threats also impacted Wadsworth Elementary School which is adjacent to the middle school.
The sheriff’s office received a call around 7 a.m. on May 15 making another threat against Buddy Taylor Middle School. For that call, 22 units responded and determined the threat was unfounded. But the threat disrupted bus transportation to the school.
Another threat was received at 2:45 p.m. on May 15 in which the caller said they would “shoot every police officer who responded, and that they had placed two bombs inside Old Kings Elementary School in Palm Coast. Nineteen units responded to that call.
The sheriff’s office also received a call on the afternoon of May 15 from the Lincoln Nebraska Police Department saying it had received a call threatening a shooting and bombing at Buddy Taylor Middle School.
The sheriff’s office received a call May 16 from someone who threatened to shoot up and bomb Buddy Taylor Middle School in Palm Coast.
The sheriff’s office responded to every call, searched the schools and found no threat.
A 13-year-old South Daytona boy was arrested in a school threat made May 17 against Buddy Taylor Middle School, Staly said at a previous press conference. Staly said the teenager did not attend Buddy Taylor Middle School but made the threat after he was dared by a friend enrolled at the school. At the time, Staly said investigators believed it was a copycat threat and continued their investigation into who made the other threats against schools.
What’s a ‘swatting’ call?
Staly said in a previous press conference that the schools were targets of “swatting” in which someone makes a false report of violence in progress or an incident about to occur intended to initiate a large and immediate deployment of law enforcement, including SWAT teams, to a specific location.
Swatting calls have been happening across the country targeting schools, college campus and politicians.
Staly said that people arrested for these types of offenses are often between the ages of 16 and 24.
Check back for updates on this breaking story.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Flagler Schools swatting calls: Virginia boy, 11, arrested
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