'This Is Not A Drill', Mount Greylock Student Recounts Swatting

If your kid goes to Mount Greylock, like ours, here's what you need to know about what happened Wednesday morning. And if it was April Fool's related - that's super lame.

Williamstown Police responded to an apparent swatting incident at the school after someone called in a threat around 10:17 a.m. School officials immediately activated their security protocols, and police responded to the Cold Spring Road campus. They were not alone. North Adams and Lanesborough Police, Massachusetts State Police, the Williamstown Fire Department, and Northern Berkshire EMS all responded to assist.

Officers searched the building and the surrounding areas and found nothing. No evidence. No credible threat. By 11:03 a.m., less than an hour after the call came in, the school was back to normal operations. Additional officers remained on campus for the rest of the school day as a precaution. -iberkshires.com

My stepson Anthony is a 7th grader at Mount Greylock and we had a chance to speak with him on the radio this morning.

I was in health class with about twelve or thirteen other kids, there were some kids that were scared, but for the most part we didn't know what was going on. When the teacher said this is not a drill, kids started to get a little freaked out over that. If this was a drill, they would have said it over the intercom. The teacher just said, this is not a drill and to be quiet and remain in the classroom. Eventually the cops came into all the rooms and said you can return to regular class time. They didn't give us anymore information.

When I asked him if the fact that it was April Fool's Day registered with anyone in terms of the threat, he said, "Yeah, a lot of kids said, yeah that's a bad joke and stuff like that".

What is swatting and what is the penalty?

So what exactly is swatting, and what happens to the person who does it? Swatting is when someone makes a false emergency call designed to send a heavily armed police response to a location. It puts students, staff, first responders, and the public at genuine risk.

And the penalties are real. In Massachusetts, swatting is currently classified as a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail. But if the call originates out of state, federal charges kick in. At the federal level, swatting carries up to five years in prison, up to 20 years if someone is injured, and up to life in prison if the incident results in a death. Perpetrators can also be ordered to pay full restitution for the cost of the emergency response, and face separate civil lawsuits on top of criminal charges.

The investigation is ongoing. If you know anything, call Williamstown Police at 413-458-5733.