Hoax school shootings: inside America's epidemic

Incident Overview and Scale

• In February 2023, Pitkin County, Colorado, received a "SWAT hoax" call at Aspen Elementary School involving threats of an active shooter and pipe bombs.
• The hoax resulted in the deployment of 44 officers, 26 firefighters, and 27 medics, alongside a school lockdown affecting approximately 500 students.
• Media reports indicate a tenfold increase in hoax incidents, rising from roughly 70 in the 2018 school year to 450 in 2022, surpassing the number of actual school shootings on school property during those hours.

Coordinated Campaigns and Tactics

• A specific wave of 148 hoax calls occurred in February 2023 across the U.S. (including 21 in Vermont, 13 in Massachusetts, and 17 in Colorado), often targeting schools in alphabetical order over a five-hour window.
• Audio analysis by The Economist revealed these calls utilized a consistent script and voice, leading investigators to characterize the events as potential domestic terrorism rather than random pranks.
• Modern swatters increasingly operate using high-tech methods, including dark web services, cryptocurrency payments, and AI-generated fake voices, making them difficult to track.
• In the Colorado case, the caller used TextNow VoIP lines with Southwest Florida area codes while potentially masking their true location via a Virtual Private Network (VPN).

Investigative Findings and Suspects

• The Colorado caller identified as "Nelson" and utilized threats of an AR-15 and pipe bombs, matching the modus operandi of known swatters James McCarty (AspertainOnline) and Kaya Nelson (Chumlul).
• FBI intelligence analyst Jen Dobler notes that contemporary swatting has evolved from individuals in basements using landlines to organized, high-tech criminal enterprises.
• While the FBI is investigating the Colorado case, the caller's specific location remains unconfirmed due to the anonymity provided by VoIP and VPN technologies.

Legal and Corporate Responses

• As of summer 2023, 16 states, including Colorado, have elevated SWAT hoaxes to felony offenses.
• The FBI has intensified its tracking of these calls, and pressure is mounting on VoIP providers to implement stricter policing of suspicious account activity.
• TextNow responded to the investigation by banning VPN-based calls made via web browsers since May and stating that such platforms are not to be used for harassment or fraud.

Psychological Impact and Outlook

• The incident caused significant trauma for children and staff, with a school parent noting that despite the relief of it being a hoax, the emotional toll persists.
• The Economist concludes that unless the trend of increasing coordinated hoaxes is halted, more schools, parents, and children will suffer similar psychological damage.