SARASOTA, Fla. — A Sarasota teenager is being investigated for swatting incidents at a Wisconsin school and other locations, according to a Wisconsin police department.
The Portage Police Department, located in the Madison metropolitan area, worked with the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office to identify a 15-year-old boy who they say is linked to both school and residential targeted swatting calls in multiple states, the Portage Police Department said in a news release. Those include Wisconsin, North Carolina and Indiana and internationally in Ontario, Canada.
One of the alleged incidents called for an active shooter threat at Portage High School, according to the release.
Swatting is when a person makes a prank call to emergency services in an attempt to bring about a large number of armed police officers to a particular address.
"The nature of these calls involve but are not limited to; active shooters, bomb threats and personal life and death related threats," police said.
Law enforcement officials are working on charging the teen with terroristic threats and swatting. A teenage girl was arrested in Wisconsin already, WWSB reports. Police in Wisconsin believe the two teens know each other.
The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office told 10 Tampa Bay it has not been notified that Portage police intend to arrest anyone in Sarasota.
