‘Swatting’ call prompted law enforcement response in Moberly, Huntsville
Ryan Shiner
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Law enforcement agencies in Randolph County responded to what ended up being a pair of “swatting” calls on Friday morning. .
“Swatting” occurs when someone makes a prank call or message to draw a surprise emergency response to an address. A similar call was made to the residence of former Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft last year. Other areas of Mid-Missouri have seen instances of swatting, including a Columbia neighborhood in June.
The Randolph County Sheriff’s Office wrote on its social media Friday morning that it – along with Moberly police and Randolph County EMS – responded to an alleged report of an active shooter at a residence in Moberly and an alleged bomb threat at Huntsville City Hall. Neither of the calls ended up being true.
“Personnel from all agencies responded and after a thorough investigation determined the call came from an untraceable phone and none of the reported accusations were true,” the post says. “This incident will be investigated but it is important to note all accusations were unsubstantiated and all personnel have cleared the scenes.”
Randolph County Sheriff Andy Boggs told ABC 17 News no one is in custody for the call, but he was given some information by federal officials as to who could’ve made the calls.
“The people that I talked to said it was a person, it was a male, they did not believe it was automated,” Boggs said. “As far as we know, this came from somewhere that’s not in our state, you know, and maybe not even in the nation.”
Boggs added that both calls came from a California area code.
The City of Moberly wrote in a press release that it has been in contact with the Department of Homeland Security and that similar events have occurred around the country on Friday.
“The City is aware that other locations in Missouri and across the United States received similar false reports today. The Department of Homeland Security has been in contact with City officials and is coordinating with local and state agencies in response to this event,” the release says.
Swatting calls in Missouri can result in both a misdemeanor or a felony depending on the claims and the outcome following the false call. At its most serious a person can face up to 15 years in prison
Randolph County Sheriff’s Office launched a new app Friday that helped alert the community about threats that turned out to be a swatting call.
“We were able to send out push notifications to people that have downloaded the app. They get a real time notification so they can be ready for it or they at least know what’s going on,” Boggs said.