PITTSBURGH — The FBI is issuing a stern warning saying hoax calls about active shooters, known as “swatting,” are not just pranks. They put lives at risk, drain police resources, and carry serious consequences.
Channel 11’s Chief Investigator Rick Earle recently sat down with the FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Chris Giordano, of the Pittsburgh field office, to talk about hoax calls.
He said they usually see a spike this time of year and he was right.
A call came in to the Zone One police station on the North Side that there was a man with a gun at the Pitt Law Library.
According to law enforcement sources, when police at Zone One called that number back, it was not in service.
Police arrived on the scene and quickly determined it was a hoax.
“What we tend to see is: this time of year is when they spike, because it’s the beginning of the school year,” said FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Chris Giordano.
Giordano said the FBI treats all calls like these seriously.
“As soon as we are alerted to this, it is everything gets stopped and we proceed forward with these investigations until we can prove that it’s either a legitimate threat or it’s a hoax,” Giordano said.
He says a hoax or joke threat is no joke to law enforcement.
“We do not take these lightly and we will use the full extent of our federal law enforcement power to go after these individuals responsible for this, whether they’re juveniles or adults,” said Girodano.
The FBI says these types of school hoax threats put a strain on law enforcement, students, teachers, parents and the entire community.
Again, they say they will aggressively pursue criminal charges in these cases.
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