Police dept. has received three similar calls from swatter since first incident.

By Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer

The Richmond Indiana Police Department blocked off the area surrounding the 700 block of East Main Street for nearly four hours, Tuesday, June 24 when it received a call just after 5 p.m. from a male who claimed he was holding five Jewish hostages, was armed with firearms and explosives, and had already killed a hostage.

The caller told police he was located in the 700 block of East Main Street in Richmond. At 9 p.m., the police department issued a statement that the situation had been resolved, followed by press release that it had determined the call to be a hoax, even as officers continued clearing the area to ensure public safety.

As Richmond police began securing the area, it was “quickly joined by Wayne County Sheriff’s Department, Indiana State Police, and Richmond Fire Department, which deployed a doctor-equipped ambulance,” according to the press release. The department’s SWAT and drone teams were also on the scene. Negotiators with Wayne County Emergency Communications established contact with the caller.

“Out of an abundance of caution, nearby buildings were cleared with the help of the Randolph County SWAT Team,” the press release stated. “During the course of the incident, investigators became aware of a live webcam feed in the area” and then cut off the feed.

The Richmond Police Department describes a swatting incident as a criminal hoax in which someone falsely reports a violent emergency to prompt a massive police response. “These incidents not only waste valuable resources but also put lives at risk.”

Richmond Police Chief Kyle Weatherly said in the press release, “Whether you’re across the street or hiding behind a computer halfway across the country, if you threaten Richmond, we’re coming for you.”

Rebecca Wartell was driving her son from a dentist appointment to football practice at about 5:15 that afternoon when she saw traffic was diverted from Richmond’s downtown area.

“I was curious what was happening to cause the large police presence, but didn’t think much about it,” she said. Wartell is a member of Beth Boruk Temple, Richmond’s Reform congregation. She’s about to begin her second year as assistant professor and chair in Jewish studies at Earlham College in Richmond.

“Later, I saw the RPD statement about the incident on Facebook, and I was especially shocked when I saw references to Jewish hostages and the claim that one had been killed,” she told The Observer.

“I became concerned because the incident was not only a swatting crime, which wastes police time and resources, but had an anti-Jewish aspect to it in a town with a very small Jewish community.”

The Richmond swatting incident occurred little more than three weeks after the firebombing of Run for Their Lives participants in Boulder, Colo., in which 15 people were injured while rallying to increase awareness about the Israeli hostages still held in Gaza. One firebombing victim, Karen Diamond, 82, has since died of her severe burns and injuries. The man who allegedly threw two Molotov cocktails at the group shouted “free Palestine” as he threw one of them.

Wartell is originally from Denver. She lived and taught in Boulder before moving to Richmond last year.

“Nearly all of the victims of the Boulder attack are members of the congregation we belonged to while we lived there,” she said. “My family has been in Colorado for five generations, so that incident hit especially hard. I am sorry to see this recent rise of antisemitism in communities close to home and appreciate all of the support from our friends and allies in hopes for more peaceful times ahead.”

Weatherly added that the department has forwarded all information gathered from the incident to the FBI. The incident remains under active investigation.

“Make no mistake, what happened today was not a joke,” the chief said. “It was a calculated and dangerous disruption, and we responded with speed, coordination, and professionalism. The Richmond Police Department treats every single call for service as if it’s real, because protecting our community is not something we take lightly.”

Richmond, Ind. is 50 miles west of Dayton, just across the Ohio border. The Observer estimates Richmond’s Jewish community at about 45 households.

Similar swatting incidents in Richmond since June 24
Richmond Police Major Adam Blanton, an assistant chief and the department’s public information officer, told The Observer June 30 that Wayne County emergency dispatch has received three more swatting calls from the individual who placed the first call June 24. Each was after 5 p.m.

“We were able to deduce fairly quickly that this individual was the same one that called in previously,” Blanton said. “Essentially, he had made reference to the same thing, the exact same rhetoric: ‘I have hostages, I’m upset with Jewish people.’ And the same rhetoric based on his girlfriend leaving him for a Jewish individual.”

According to Blanton, on two of the additional swatting calls, the caller said he was holding Jewish hostages at the 700 block of East Main Street, as he did on the June 24 call. One of those calls, Blanton said, was made from the McDonald’s at 1725 E. Main St. in Richmond.

On the third additional call, Blanton said, the swatter claimed “he was at the chief of police’s home address and was going to kill the chief of police” because the chief supported and protected those of the Jewish faith.

Blanton noted that all four calls were placed through TextNow VoIP telephone numbers, an internet-based phone system. “It wasn’t like he used something easy to ping. The number has been different, but the process of calling remains the same.”

So far, the investigation has found that one of the swatter’s phone numbers appears to have been involved in similar incidents across the country.

Initially, the department believed the investigation would be local in nature, because the caller mentioned specific buildings and landmarks in the area where he claimed to hold hostages, Blanton said.

“We were able to figure out that he had accessed a live Google Earth cam through an individual who has one on the side of his building that shows that intersection,” during the June 24 incident. The person with the video camera, Blanton said, is involved in media and marketing; his video camera use is a hobby. “It wasn’t secured, it wasn’t private, he (the swatter) didn’t hack it or anything like that. If you look up ‘live cams in Richmond,’ you would have been able to find it.”

Richmond Police ultimately confirmed at the June 24 standoff situation that the swatter was not in the area.

“When we killed the camera footage, some of the information he gave was incorrect. It was very inaccurate,” Blanton said. “Based off of that, the only idea he had of this area was simply what you could have seen on camera.”

For the three additional swatting incidents, Blanton said the department deployed patrol units only.

“Our officers, armed with the knowledge of (the swatter’s) past rhetoric, were able to determine quickly that this was again, a hoax.”

Blanton said he knew of no previous antisemitic swatting incidents in the Richmond area. He added that anyone in the Richmond area who has experienced antisemitism or has been made to feel unsafe should reach out to the police department.