KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An arrest has been made after a swatting call Tuesday to the Claycomo Ford plant, Clay County Sheriff Will Akin announced Wednesday in a press conference.
Akin said preparations are now in the works to prosecute the individual.
Around 5:20 p.m. Tuesday, Ford’s safety and security team received a call from a disgruntled employee who claimed to be barricaded inside a bathroom in the paint area of the factory. The caller also claimed to be armed with explosives and guns.
Production was shut down, and the 2,200 employees on-site were evacuated.
Claycomo police requested the assistance of the Clay County Sheriff’s Office to search the 6,000,000-square-foot facility, which took six hours.
Initially, with drones in the air and people on the ground, Sheriff Akin said authorities had “some indication that the threat might not be legitimate, but we couldn’t rule that out at that time.”
“We had to treat it as though there was an imminent threat,” he said.
No persons were located in the area where the caller indicated to be located. Thus, additional aid was requested from the following agencies: Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department, Gladstone Police Department, North Kansas City Police Department, Liberty Police Department, Platte County Sheriff's Office, Pleasant Valley Police Department, Missouri State Highway Patrol, KCMO Fire Department and the FBI.
“This hoax created a huge strain on law enforcement, not to mention the financial loss that Ford suffered from shutting down production,” Akin said.
Simultaneously as authorities searched the facility, investigators worked to locate the source of the threat, which ended in an arrest.
Akin said the caller was “local enough for us to go make an arrest and bring him to the Clay County Jail.”
Acknowledging the effect the “stressful event” had on those involved, Elena Iatarola, acting special agent in charge of the FBI Kansas City Field Office, explained at the conference what makes swatting calls so dangerous.
“Making false claims takes away from our actual job and our resources to respond to real crisis situations. We consider it a very serious crime," the agent said.
Authorities are working with local and federal prosecution in deciding where is best to place the charges, which the Clay County Sheriff's Office is optimistic will be announced Wednesday.
"Believe it or not, we've never had a swatting situation like this inside the Ford plant, but we have trained with our tactical team, as well as many other tactical teams, inside the Ford plant, just to make sure that when a situation like this does happen, we are already ready," Akin said.
UAW Local 249, which represents active and retired workers at the Ford plant, released a statement Wednesday afternoon thanking law enforcement for their efforts.
The statement also addressed concerns from union members. UAW Local 249 explained the group was unable to post updates Tuesday night in order to not interfere with law enforcement's operation.
Once the union was able, it began providing information.
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