A 14-year-old is facing 9 felony counts in connection with a swatting incident at Napoleon Community Schools in early May, according to Napoleon Chief of Police Duaine Pittman.
- Teen faces nine felony counts after swatting incident on Napoleon Community Schools.
- Napoleon police chief says the teen arranged the threats with an unknown hacker.
- Incident sent shock through the Napoleon community.
The charges include terroristic threats, conspiracy to commit a terroristic threat, and using a computer to commit a crime.
Pittman said the investigation revealed the teen did not make the calls directly, but instead used social media to communicate with someone claiming to be a hacker and arranged for that person to carry out the attack.
"Was communicating with somebody that basically said they're the best hacker in the world, they can do anything. And he challenged them 'could you swat my school?'" Pittman said.
Pittman described swatting as a tactic designed to overwhelm emergency responders.
"The general idea is just to get everyone headed in that direction and create chaos," Pittman said.
The incident began at Napoleon High School before spreading to involve the middle school. The elementary school was also placed on lockdown, though Pittman said there was no direct threat to that building. All three schools are located in close proximity to one another.
"This was very intense. I mean, this was very concerning," Pittman said.
I reached out to community members and the school district about the incident, but no one was comfortable talking on camera. I did hear continued shock and concern in our conversations.
Pittman said the impact of the threats weighs heavily on him.
"As a police chief, that's probably the thing that keeps me awake most at night is that something could happen to any of those kids at that school," Pittman said.
The investigation into the identity of the hacker is ongoing. Pittman emphasized that law enforcement treats every threat as real, regardless of its origin.
"Mainly, we take these things very serious. As soon as call is made, our job is to respond as if it's real whether it is or not," Pittman said.
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