Calgary hospital swatting linked to 2 similar incidents as fake threats climb, police say

Calgary police say a swatting incident that prompted the lockdown of the Alberta Children's Hospital late Sunday is connected to two other incidents and that fake threats are on the rise.

'We have seen a rise in these types of calls,' Duty Insp. Paul Wozney tells reporters

David Bell CBC News Posted: Feb 26, 2018 4:25 PM EST | Last Updated: February 27, 2018

Duty Insp. Paul Wozney says swatting incidents are up and they drain valuable resources in addition to putting people's lives at risk. (CBC)

Calgary police say a swatting incident that prompted the lockdown of the Alberta Children's Hospital late Sunday isconnected to two other incidents and that fake threats are on the rise.

"We take these events extremely seriously until we know otherwise. We have to. That's what we are here for," Duty Insp. Paul Wozney told reporters at a Monday news conference.

"I just don't want to see anybody from the community or a police officer get hurt, or injured or killed."

Police were called to the northwest hospital at 8:19 p.m. Sunday. That waswithin minutes of similar calls to children's hospitals in Toronto and Edmonton.

Wozney says police believe the three incidents are connected.

The Calgary hospital was locked down and streets closed for about 90 minutes.

"You look at what is going on, particularly in the U.S., what happened in Florida last week, what's happened in some of the other jurisdictions with school shootings, mall shootings. The world is changing and law enforcement is changing," Wozney said.

"It took us some time to sort through the details to ensure that it was one of these swatting incidents."

'We knew something was wrong'

Olamide Sobo and her four-year-old son Sam were at the hospital at the time of the lockdown.

"My little boy was sick so he needed to see a doctor as soon as possible," Sobo told CBC News.

In the waiting room, she heard an announcement addressed to all doctors.

Olamide Sobo and her son were at the hospital when it was locked down. (Dave Gilson/CBC)

"Immediately we knew something was wrong."

She saiddespite the unknown, the lockdown was handled well.

"It was quite scary, just hearing about what's happening in the U.S. It was my first time being in a lockdown situation but there were a lot of police around so it gave us a bit of reassurance."

Trickle-down effect

Wozneysaidswatting calls are up and they take valuable resources away from other areas.

"In my experience, we have seen a rise in these types of calls," he said.

"Those are police officers that aren't attending other emergencies, that aren't going to other 911 calls. There is a trickle-down effect to that."

Wozney said the investigation so far has not produced any suspects.

A swatting call in Kansas in December led to Wichita police fatally shooting a man in the door of his home after he failed to respond to police commands.

Criminologist Melanie Marchand said the motivation behind such incidentsis difficult to determine.

"There's a numberof reasons why somebody would do this type of what we would say is a hoax," MarchandtoldCBCNews.

"The reasons peoplewould do it include sheer ignorance they wouldn't necessarily understand the gravity of the situation that could be presented.

"[Or] it could be [an] online gaming rivalry, which we've seen [previously] in the States,but I think the most dangerous occurrence of swatting would be when people do it for their own personal enjoyment and the thrill,the sneaky thrill of the act itself."

Those looking for a thrill are the most dangerous, she said.

"Becausethey like to see how it unfolds," she said."The sneaky thrill of a crime rarely focuses on the materialistic part of the crime,rather it's the feeling they get when they're watching it unfold.

"It's quite sadistic really. It's a rush that somebody gets whether they're at the actual scene or that they're watching it online unfold."