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Police investigate string of swatting calls in Boardman, Struthers

By Kelcey Norris Mahoning Matters

January 2, 2024 12:11 PM

Departments in Youngstown and Boardman collaborated to safely respond to an active shooting scene that was a false alarm.

It started when a call came to Boardman Police Dispatch at 12:27 a.m. on Dec. 29 from a 13-year-old boy.

The 13-year-old caller reported he’d just shot his mother, dispatchers said.

The caller told dispatchers he was inside a house on Forest Park Drive and he’d just shot his 29-year-old mother.

The caller also said he tied up his 5-year-old brother, reports say.

Next, the caller told dispatchers he’d “poured gasoline all around the house and wanted to set the house on fire.”

The caller said he had at least two firearms and made threats to shoot officers who approached the house.

Reports say just as the first officers arrived at the house on Forest Park Drive, the caller told dispatchers he was going to kill his brother and then hung up.

Youngstown and Beaver Police Departments sent officers to help with the scene and set up tape.

Other officers and dispatchers tried getting back in touch with the caller, but they didn’t get an answer.

Police also called and sent a message to the mother’s phone to see if she was okay inside the house since there wasn’t any indication of a problem outside the house.

After several minutes, Boardman dispatchers contacted the mother at the house, who said everyone was safe.

She came outside the house and told police she “had no knowledge of any problems inside the home.”

She told police everyone was safe inside and asleep, which police double-checked.

Officers went inside, saw that everyone was safe and spoke with two of the children.

Swatting investigation

One of the children told the police he had a “strange conversation during an online game of Fortnite via Xbox Live.”

Reports say the conversation happened around 10 a.m. on Dec. 28, a day before the police investigation.

During the conversation, the child said a player he knows from New Jersey was upset with him and recited [his] address on Forest Park Drive to him.

The child told police he couldn’t remember “any specific threats made during the conversation but found it strange and blocked [the player.]”

Officers took the player’s Xbox username and identifying information from the system.

Boardman police learned later that the Struthers Police Department responded to three similar calls in the last three days, all with the same phone number.

According to reports, officers haven’t yet traced that caller.

What is swatting?

The police reports say this was a false alarm and a case of swatting and inducing panic.

Swatting is “the act of making a prank call to emergency services to prompt a response at a particular address,” according to the Associated Press.

These hoax callers target the homes and businesses of individuals but also public institutions like schools.

Is swatting a crime in Ohio?

A law passed last year by the Ohio Legislature makes swatting a fourth-degree felony, according to the Ohio Revised Code.

The charge can enhanced to a second-degree felony if serious bodily harm occurs as a result of the swatting call.

Swatting is also federally illegal, although the degree and crimes charged are dependent on circumstances like tactics and target, according to the FBI.