Fisher River man charged with more ‘swatting’ calls

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This article was published 28/01/2022 (1350 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Fisher River man has been accused of making an additional six threatening hoax phone calls to provoke an armed police response on unsuspecting victims in the U.S.

Sean Murdock, 18, was charged in September after hoax calls warning of an active shooter were placed to schools in Tennessee and North Carolina in August.

Police alleged Friday the accused had placed so-called “swatting” calls to six police departments in August prior to his arrest. They said investigators had examined the accused’s electronic devices which had been seized from his home.

The six calls ranged from active shooter threats to bomb threats involving large facilities, RCMP said. As a result of the phone calls, numerous law enforcement personnel were dispatched to those locations.

The calls were determined to be false, RCMP said.

In August, a high school in rural Tennessee was placed on high alert after a caller said an armed shooter was stalking the halls.

“The caller claimed he had a gun, he was on campus, he was heading toward the gym, he was in one of the main restrooms and he was going to open fire,” Hawkins County Schools director Matt Hixson told the Free Press at the time.

No one was hurt.

In North Carolina, a similar threat was called in to Watauga High School Aug. 18.

Manitoba police were first contacted for help Aug. 17, after U.S. law enforcement traced fake calls to the province. RCMP and the Winnipeg Police Service said they later determined the messages came from Fisher River, 190 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

Murdock is scheduled to appear in court in Peguis First Nation on March 8. He’s now facing an additional six counts of public mischief.

Twitter: @erik_pindera

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca