Juvenile charged with swatting call at Villanova University, other institutions in Pennsylvania
A juvenile is facing charges in connection with a rash of swatting calls last summer, including the one that targeted Villanova University in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
United States Attorney David Metcalf filed the charges against the suspect for swatting calls in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in August 2025, according to an announcement from his office.
The suspect in this case self-identifies as a member of the cybercriminal group called Purgatory, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The suspect randomly selected institutions to target and is not affiliated with any of them, officials said. A swatting call is a hoax call to law enforcement reporting a threat to human life, such as an active shooter, in an attempt to draw a large response from police and special weapons and tactics teams.
Villanova University was the target of a swatting call on Aug. 21, 2025. The call prompted an alert about an active shooter, which sent people running for cover on a day that included Mass, a resource fair and other back-to-school activities for students and their families. The false threat drew a massive law enforcement response from departments across the region and 18 EMS units.
The U.S. Attorney's Office did not detail which swatting incidents it believes the suspect caused and declined to answer questions from CBS News Philadelphia, but Villanova said in a letter to the community that a juvenile has been identified as a suspect in the case.
Villanova Associate Vice President of Public Safety and Chief of Police David G. Tedjeske said in the letter that the school was never in danger but the unfounded threat drew "the largest police response" the university has ever seen. The incident also prompted a review its response and make changes to its NOVA Alert system.
In a statement, Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse said in part, "The fear on campus that afternoon was unprecedented and an awful reminder of the horrors that mass shootings have brought upon this country. It's an experience that no one should have to go through and now, hopefully, with these charges, others will be effectively deterred from stoking these fears in the future."
The FBI, Radnor Township Police, Pennsylvania State Police, Upper Merion Police and other first responders investigated this case, officials said. Villanova Police also provided information to the FBI, Tedjeske said in the letter.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga was the target of a swatting call the same day as the Villanova incident. The U.S. Attorney's Office says swatting calls are increasingly common and waste local first responders' time and resources on false threats.
