A bomb threat that resulted in a temporary evacuation of Ochoa Middle School in Pasco Monday could be part of a nationwide threat that's spreading rapidly called 'swatting.'

Pasco officials say they've identified the number used to phone in what turned out to be a fake threat to the Pasco middle school, but have not released any other information. They have also not confirmed or denied whether it was part of the latest nationwide spree of incidents involving technological criminals.

Swatting is a high-tech method where a person tried to deceive authorities into believing there's a big enough threat at a location to merit sending in the SWAT team, which is where the name comes from, hence, 'swatting.'

The term was first used by the FBI as far back as 2008, and was first utilized by online video gamers who were trying to prank another player. They would use digital devices to place phony 911 calls and send police to the other player's home!

However, over the last year or two, swatting has alarmingly spread to schools and other public facilities. Two years ago, a 15-year-old gamer in Louisiana was tried as an adult on two counts of domestic terrorism, and given 25 years in jail. Using an IP or internet address, gamers would obtain the physical address and information about their rival player's home, then call in a threat using that number. They would then watch live online as the police raided the person's home.

Monday of this week, schools in Utah, Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Delaware and possibly Washington were hit by such swatting bomb threat calls.

One such swatter who was arrested in 2015, lived in British Columbia, and was eventually linked to some 40 swatting type incidents as far away as Georgia. He was  found guilty and sentenced to 16 months.

 

More From 870 AM KFLD