A 15-year-old from Kitchener, Ont., faces 29 criminal charges after police investigated a string of swatting calls that threatened public safety.

Swatting is when someone calls in a false report with the intention of eliciting a large police presence.

In a press conference on Monday, Insp. Kyle Lambert with the Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) said police received 13 swatting calls between May and October of this year. The calls threatened violence, but were ultimately proven to be false.

“While the threats were empty, the harm that they caused was not,” Lambert said.

“What was not false were the real and harmful effects these swatting incidents had on public safety and the perception of safety in our community.”

The first call was on May 29, when someone threatened to bring a handgun to St. Mary’s High School in Kitchener. The school was closed that day and the next while police investigated. Ultimately, police reported the threats were fabricated.

Over the course of the next five months, 12 more calls were made, Lambert said.

They included other threats of shootings at Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute, at a Canada Day celebration in Kitchener’s Victoria Park, as well as threats to bring an explosive to a Kitchener business and shoot a family in their home.

“In each of these instances, the police response was swift and extensive and determined that every single report was false,” Lambert said.

“Frontline patrol officers responded to every incident of these false reports, diverting their attention from other calls for service and placing a strain on emergency services resources.”

The unnamed 15-year-old male faces the following charges:

• Eight counts of public mischief.

• Eight counts of uttering threats of death.

• Two counts of mischief – interfering with lawful enjoyment of property.

• Five counts of Party to the Offence of public mischief.

• Four counts of Party to the Offence of uttering threats to cause death.

• Two counts of Party to the Offence of criminal harassment.

The teen, who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, is currently in police custody and is due to appear in court Dec. 6.