Bloomington Police are investigating a "swatting" incident Thursday morning in which someone made a phony threat against an unspecified local school.
Officers made a safety check on all schools in Bloomington after the threat of gun violence at a school came in around 6:45 a.m., police said.
Officers quickly made contact with the person allegedly responsible for the threat — only to find that they had not actually made the threat. Police determined there was no credible threat at all.
"Swatting" (so named because it sometimes involves a SWAT team response) is a term that describes intentionally false reports made by pranksters intent on sowing chaos. Swatting has been a problem at schools and other institutions across the country.
Bloomington Police say there have been no arrests as of Thursday afternoon. Swatting is a class 4 felony. If convicted, a person could be required to reimburse a police agency up to $10,000 for responding.
