Thankfully it was a hoax, but he’s in a lot of hot water.
It’s not every day you hear about a car factory getting shut down and evacuated, especially one as busy and important as Ford Kansas City Assembly. But that’s exactly what happened at the facility located in Claycomo, Missouri on July 18 after someone called to say they were inside and ready to rain hell down on everyone in the facility.
Watch Tanabe aluminum wheels being made.
The Clay County Sheriff’s Department said everything unfolded at 5:20 pm when an anonymous caller told Ford management that he had barricaded himself in a bathroom in the paint section of the assembly plant. He also claimed to have a revolver, rifle, and some explosives.
Such a threat should be taken seriously, so Ford immediately shut down production and evacuated the entire factory, ushing about 2,200 people through the exits. The automaker even canceled the night shift. That’s not a cheap thing to do. Fortunately, the whole thing was a hoax, something that was established when a Special Tactics and Response Team searched the facility along with help from the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, finding nothing and nobody.
When the sheriff’s department tried contacting the man, they couldn’t establish communication again. Pinging the phone, they concluded the number was spoofed, or in other words the number shown when he called was false. That’s when they started to treat the investigation as a swatting call and not a legitimate threat.
While the caller tried to portray himself as a disgruntled employee and even knew the name of a supervisor in the paint area, the name he provided for himself didn’t check out.
Investigators were able to establish the true identity of the caller, 19-year-old Zachariah A. Peterson. He was arrested and charged with one count of making a terroristic threat. Clay County Sheriff’s Office says he’s being held on a $150,000 bond.
According to Fox4, prosecutors believe Peterson made the call to trigger an evacuation all so an “acquaintance of his would not have to go to work.” We wonder if he still comprehends the problems his stunt caused.
Images via Ford
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