HAWKINS COUNTY, Tenn. — A Canadian teen is in custody following a hoax 911 call at Volunteer High School in Hawkins County back in August.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Wednesday a joint investigation between Tennessee and Canadian authorities resulted in the arrest of an 18-year-old man living more than 1,200 miles away from the high school on the Fisher River Cree Nation in Manitoba, Canada.
Canadian police said Tennessee and North Carolina authorities contacted them to help investigate two "swatting" incidents: the one at Volunteer High School on August 10, and another at Watauga High School in Boone, N.C.
"Swatting" is the practice of making a hoax phone call describing a life-threatening situation in order to provoke armed police response, the RCMP said. In the case of Volunteer High School, the caller claimed to be a student and told dispatchers he had been bullied and harassed by popular students. The caller said he was in the main bathroom and was armed with a handgun, claiming he was going to go the gym and begin shooting.
Hawkins County deputies and the Church Hill Police Department responded in large numbers, placing the school on lockdown. They later determined the call to be a hoax after no suspect was found at the school, nor evidence that any weapon had been fired or brought in.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation was called in to track down the hoax caller, which led them to Canada after determining the calls originated from a number registered to a home in Manitoba.
On August 30, the RCMP said officers executed a search warrant and seized electronic devices at a home located on the Fisher River Cree Nation. Police took the 18-year into custody. He is scheduled to face court on December 7 on the Peguis First Nation in Manitoba.