Rocky River officials describe multi‑agency response to false swatting threat at Rocky River High School

Rocky River’s police chief told City Council on March 9 that a March 4 “swatting” call forced Rocky River High School into lockdown, prompted a large multi‑agency response and triggered an ongoing criminal investigation.

Chief Lichman said the call arrived at 10:53 a.m., the high school was put into lockdown and other area schools were put into a soft lockdown while officers checked the reported threat. “It resulted in a response of no fewer than forty‑six (46) law enforcement officers from eight agencies,” he said, and detectives have been working with partner agencies to identify a suspect.

The chief walked Council through the incident timeline: building searches were completed twice by about 12:10 p.m.; driving students were released at about 12:30 p.m., and other students at about 1:00 p.m.; police continued to search the building with bomb‑sniffing dogs before declaring it secure. He said investigators are back‑tracing the call and coordinating with other agencies after similar calls affected at least a dozen schools across the state that day.

Chief Lichman noted victim counts used in the briefing: “There were 724 victims in this incident — 636 students and 88 faculty & staff,” and he emphasized the emotional impact even when a report proves false. The chief also reviewed relevant statutes, including Ohio Revised Code 2917.321 (swatting), which the briefing said “prohibits knowingly making a false report that causes an emergency response” and can be a fourth‑degree felony in many cases or a second‑degree felony if the false report results in serious physical harm.

Council members asked operational and technical questions. Mr. Hunt asked whether radios helped coordination across agencies; the chief said the MARCS (Multi‑Agency Radio Communication System) radios “worked well,” enabling teams to switch channels and communicate across municipalities. Ms. Gallagher asked whether authorities can identify spoofed incoming calls more quickly; the chief said he was not aware of a faster way to spot spoofed calls in real time.

Mayor Bobst praised the interagency response and asked residents with concerns to contact the chief, the Safety‑Service Director or her office. She said officials were grateful the incident was resolved without physical harm and noted the city will continue reviewing the response with school officials, students and families.

Detectives continue to investigate. The chief said other criminal charges such as inducing panic or making false alarms could apply and that courts may require reimbursement for emergency‑response costs, per the statutes cited in the briefing.