Two teens, including one in north Texas, are facing charges in a swatting incident in Florida.
The sheriff's office in Okaloosa County, located in Florida's Panhandle, says Camwryn Gully, 14, of Mansfield, called police there to say there was someone inside Baker School preparing to shoot it up.
Nearby schools were placed on lockdown and scores of police officers arrived at the scene, only to discover that Gully made the whole thing up.
"This is an elaborate ring, an elaborate group of young kids that are doing this," Sheriff Eric Aden told a news conference this week.
Gully was caught after Okaloosa County investigators traced the call to his phone.
Gully and his accomplice—Landyn Whittington, 14, of Baker, Florida—are members of a group that calls itself "LulzSEC," which pays members in cryptocurrency to make these swatting calls.
Sheriff Aden says there's nothing funny about making these hoax calls to police.
"We've had real incidents across the United States where law enforcement has been killed and innocent residents have been killed due to swatting," Aden says.
Gully is expected to be extradited to Okaloosa County, where he's facing charges of making an electronic threat of a mass shooting, making a false report of firearms being used in a violent manner, use of a communication device to facilitate a felony and interference with school functions.
Whittington is facing a total of 19 charges relating to swatting incidents across the country, including in Arizona, New Jersey and Indiana.
"Those students that believe that this is a joke or a non-serious matter or is a non-serious violation, they may want to pay close attention," Aden says. "You're talking about up to 15 years in prison and being charged as an adult."
Aden urges parents to talk to their kids about making prank calls like this, driving home the point that they will have very serious consequences.
"This is one of those times that we want to tell these kids, you have an opportunity to make good choices in life and bad ones," says Aden. "We're all sinners, we're all going to make a mistake, but make things you can recover from. Overdoses you can't recover from. Suicide you can't recover from. These kids are going to have a tough time recovering from this, and we're going to make it that way."
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