Ancestors

Toot

Written by Andy Greenberg on 2025-01-09 at 13:36

For two years, the serial swatter "Torswats" called in fake school shootings across the US, scrambling police, locking down schools, terrorizing hundreds of communities.

This is the untold story of his swatting rampage and the private eye who tracked him down. https://www.wired.com/school-swatting-torswats-brad-dennis/

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Descendants

Written by Andy Greenberg on 2025-01-09 at 13:40

Working with @dmehro, who chased this story for 2+ years, we pieced together Torswats' calls, obtained audio of them, spoke to victims and emergency dispatchers traumatized by his deceptions—and tell the story of Brad Dennis, the detective who cracked the case.

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Written by Andy Greenberg on 2025-01-09 at 13:40

After approaching Torswats undercover, Dennis gave the FBI leads on online accounts tied to his real identity, 17-year old Alan Filion.

Yet the FBI took months after that to search Filion's home and close to a year to arrest him, even as he carried out hundreds of swattings.

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Written by Andy Greenberg on 2025-01-09 at 13:41

In one 48 hour period, for instance, Filion swatted dozens of schools across the state of Washington, crossing counties off a map as he hit schools in each one, posted screenshots to Telegram while mocking victims.

All after the FBI knew his name.

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Written by Andy Greenberg on 2025-01-09 at 13:42

Read the full story below and consider subscribing to WIRED so we—and in particular the brilliant

@dmehro—can keep doing reporting like this.

https://www.wired.com/school-swatting-torswats-brad-dennis/

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Written by Lee Holmes :donor: on 2025-01-09 at 16:26

@agreenberg @dmehro What a fantastic piece. We have become deadened to the term "swatting" as though it were "kids doing kids things".

The dispatchers, officers, and children so deeply impacted clearly would beg to differ.

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Written by tsk on 2025-01-09 at 13:53

@agreenberg Got his picture in the papers.

The victims... just face-less numbers, right?

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