Current:Home > MarketsAn 11-year-old Virginia boy is charged with making swatting calls to Florida schools-LoTradeCoin
An 11-year-old Virginia boy is charged with making swatting calls to Florida schools
View Date:2024-12-23 19:45:33
BUNNELL, Fla. (AP) — An 11-year-Virginia boy is charged in Florida with calling in more than 20 bomb or shooting threats to schools and other places, authorities said Thursday.
Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said during a news conference that authorities worked hard to find the caller before the school year resumes.
“This kid’s behavior was escalating and becoming more dangerous,” Staly said. “I’m glad we got him before he escalated out of control and hurt someone.”
Swatting is slang for making a prank call to emergency services in an attempt to send a SWAT team or other armed police officers to a particular place.
Flagler County emergency services initially received a bomb threat at Buddy Taylor Middle School on May 14, officials said. Additional threats were made between then and May 22. Flagler County is in central Florida on the state’s Atlantic coast.
Investigators tracked the calls to a home in Henrico County, Virginia, just outside Richmond. Local deputies searched the home this month, and the 11-year-old boy who lived there admitted to placing the Florida swatting calls, as well as a threat made to the Maryland State House, authorities said. Investigators later determined that the boy also made swatting calls in Nebraska, Kansas, Alabama, Tennessee and Alaska.
The boy faces 29 felony counts and 14 misdemeanors, officials said. He’s being held in a Virginia juvenile detention facility while Florida officials arrange for his extradition. Investigators didn’t immediately say whether the boy had a connection to Florida.
A 13-year-old boy was arrested in Florida in May, several days after the initial call, for making a copycat threat to Buddy Taylor Middle School, official said.
veryGood! (527)
Related
- Northern Taurid meteor shower hits peak activity this week: When and where to watch
- Ex-NFL star Adrian Peterson's trophy auction suspended amid legal battle
- Olivia Colman's Confession on Getting Loads of Botox Is Refreshingly Relatable
- Texas Smokehouse Creek Fire grows to largest in state's history: Live updates
- Charles Hanover: A Summary of the UK Stock Market in 2023
- 2 tractor-trailers crash on a Connecticut highway and land in a pond, killing 1 person
- Oregon nurse replaced patient's fentanyl drip with tap water, wrongful death lawsuit alleges
- Journalism leaders express support for media covering the Israel-Hamas war, ask for more protection
- Champions Classic is for elite teams. So why is Michigan State still here? | Opinion
- Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin testifies before Congress about his hospitalization: I did not handle it right
Ranking
- The Daily Money: Mattel's 'Wicked' mistake
- Cause of death for Adam Harrison, son of 'Pawn Stars' creator Rick Harrison, is released
- Salma Hayek Covers Her Gray Roots With This Unexpected Makeup Product
- Man already serving life sentence convicted in murder of Tucson girl who vanished from parents’ home
- Sydney Sweeney Slams Women Empowerment in the Industry as Being Fake
- Former 'Vanderpump Rules' stars Jax Taylor, Brittany Cartwright announce separation
- Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin testifies before Congress about his hospitalization: I did not handle it right
- Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani Reveals He Privately Got Married
Recommendation
-
Lane Kiffin puts heat on CFP bracket after Ole Miss pounds Georgia. So, who's left out?
-
Stacy Wakefield had a passion for service that continued after husband Tim Wakefield’s death
-
House to vote on short-term funding extension to avert government shutdown
-
College basketball bubble watch: Pac-12 racing for more than two NCAA tournament teams
-
Early Black Friday Deals: 70% Off Apple, Dyson, Tarte, Barefoot Dreams, Le Creuset & More + Free Shipping
-
Storytelling as a tool for change: How Marielena Vega found her voice through farmworker advocacy
-
Study Pinpoints Links Between Melting Arctic Ice and Summertime Extreme Weather in Europe
-
Providence NAACP president convicted of campaign finance violations