Amelia Elementary School was placed on lockdown Friday afternoon after someone contacted the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline claiming they were going to kill themselves and set off bombs inside the school's classrooms.
The Clermont County Sheriff's Office said its communications center received a call from a crisis counselor with the lifeline just after 1 p.m. Friday explaining that a man threatened that "everyone inside will die" at Amelia Elementary School.
According to the sheriff's office, the man said, "I am parked at Amelia Elementary School," "I am about to kill myself" and "I have planted explosives inside the school's classrooms; they're set to go off in 45 minutes."
Within 10 minutes, deputies arrived at the school and began clearing the parking lots and surrounding areas. Officials also checked the inside of the school and found zero suspected or visible explosives. A K-9 with the Miami Township Police Department was requested and cleared both the school and its parking lot.
Friday was the first day for half of Amelia Elementary School's registered students. The school was placed on lockdown until everything was cleared just before its 2:15 p.m. dismissal. Classes were dismissed at the normal time and bus operations were not impacted, officials said.
The sheriff's office said detectives are attempting to track the origins of the original message to the suicide lifeline and locate those responsible for the threat. Their investigation remains ongoing.
Friday’s threat stands out from other local school threats because it was made on a suicide and crisis lifeline online chat. We sat down with a cybersecurity professional to learn more about how this happens.
"I’ve never heard of someone using like a chatbot to send a message to a suicide helpline, and claim 'Hey, I’m suicidal and I’m gonna blow up a school.' That’s a totally new angle to it," said Dave Hatter, cybersecurity consultant for InTrust IT.
Although the method of the threat may be new, schools receiving threats has become a trend. Something Hatter calls swatting.
“I'm gonna loosely call this swatting, right where you end up consuming law enforcement resources, emergency services, sending them on some wild goose chase," Hatter said.
We asked Hatter if he believes the future of swatting and school threats is heading to suicide or other helplines. Hatter said he was unsure.
“I don't know, it’s an interesting tactic because I’m calling a suicide line, maybe I’m unstable and it’s more realistic," Hatter said. "I don't know, it’s wild and again kind of sick and despicable really."
Oftentimes with swatting, the goal of those making the threat is to create chaos and panic, according to Hatter. And the crime is also often difficult to prosecute, making it more appealing.
"If the attacker is smart and savvy they’re gonna use a VPN, they’re probably in a foreign country, they’re gonna cover their tracks," Hatter said.
Hatter says unfortunately swatting won't stop anytime soon, as law enforcement must reply to every threat no matter the legitimacy in hopes of keeping a tragedy from occurring.
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