Bryan County Sheriff Mark Crowe said there were no threats of violence during May 31 calls to a 911 administrative line, and instead the caller’s intent was instead to “badger us about our 2nd Amendment rights.”
The calls, made around 5 a.m., to BCSO’s 911 center in Richmond Hill, followed the May 24 shootings in Uvalde, Texas.
According to an initial BCSO incident report, a man called five times from a blocked number referencing the shootings by an 18-year-old teen which killed 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school there. A weapon used in the murders was reportedly made by Black Creek-based Daniel Defense, and the company told BCSO last week it received online threats such as “you people should die,” and “the nerve to fly your flags at half mast. Shame if somebody visits you,” according to an incident report.
The company issued a statement May 26 saying it was “deeply saddened by the tragic events in Texas this week.” In Crowe’s statement following reports of the 911 calls, the sheriff said authorities are still trying to identify the man who made the calls. Here’s BCSO’s June 2 statement, slightly edited: “On Tuesday May 31 the Bryan County 911 Center received a call from and unidentified male calling from a blocked or unidentifiable number. The male caller made this statement ‘Hello, I got a question’ to which the female dispatcher replied ‘OK’. The caller then asked the question “How hard is it to get an AR 15?” The caller then engaged in conversation as to how the dispatcher knew what an AR 15 was,” “The caller was relatively calm until a male 911 supervisor came on the line and advised the caller that he was calling a 911 recorded line and began to question the caller as to his need for calling 911and what is his emergency.”
The sheriff ’s statement continued: “The caller then became a little more agitated and began to make the statement that ‘my emergency is that you might need to duck, there might be a mass shooting in your area, I don’t know.’ He then went on to state that ‘The question is not if there will be another mass shooting the question is when and where it will be.’ The caller made comments to second amendment rights and rambled on until the call got disconnected. The caller did call back several times making the statement that he ‘was not calling the 911 line but the Sheriff ’s Office line 912-756-2181’ and where was the dispatcher, ‘in Pembroke or Richmond Hill, Ga?’ The caller continued calling and engaging in the same rhetoric and getting disconnected several times until he connected to a Bryan County Deputy, who allowed him to speak his peace.
“After the initial report was made by an on duty BCSO supervisor, the report was forwarded to Bryan County Investigations and to the Bryan County Sheriff ’s Office Command Staff, and an investigation ensued. Supervisors from Bryan County 911, the Bryan County Sheriff ’s Office Investigations Unit, the BCSO Command Staff, and other Law Enforcement agency members have listened to the recording and heard no threats of violence of any kind, especially threats that may be directed toward any person or any person(s) in the Bryan County Sheriff ’s Office, 911 Center, the Bryan County Community, or any other community.
“At this time, it is our belief that the caller(s) intent was to call the Bryan County Sheriff ’s Office, not 911, and to badger us as to our second amendment right to bear arms, and to tell us that because Daniel Defense is a manufacturer in Bryan County, ‘The blood is on your hands,’ and once this was done, the caller disconnected and hasn’t called back as of this date.
The sheriff ’s statement went on to say: “We do understand that in the aftermath of recent mass shootings that tensions are high, but we have identified no credible threat at this time. However, as always everyone should remain vigilant and alert and if anyone sees or hears anything that needs the attention of Law Enforcement please advise us immediately. We are continuing to investigate this call, and with the help of other agencies, are trying to identify the caller while continuing to remain alert ourselves.”