Overview
- AFP alleges multiple false reports to US emergency services claimed mass shootings at major retail and educational sites.
- Police executed an 18 December search at a regional NSW home, seizing several electronic devices and a prohibited firearm.
- The teen faces 12 telecommunications counts for conveying false information about danger plus one count of unauthorised possession of a prohibited firearm.
- The probe followed FBI intelligence and was run through the AFP’s Taskforce Pompilid, which targets decentralised online crime networks.
- Authorities say the hoaxes caused widespread alarm and financial impacts, and some reporting cites a combined maximum penalty of up to 74 years.