Enumclaw police have closed their investigation into the November “zoom bombing” of an Enumclaw School District meeting, finding the district is just one of many victims of a group that intercepts virtual meetings for fun.
“There is not enough information to identify which member(s) of this particular group conducted the “raid” on our school board meeting,” EPD chief Tim Floyd wrote in an email. “This case has been closed as a prank.”
The zoom bombing occurred Nov. 22, as Superintendent Dr. Shaun Carey, who is black, was delivering his report to the public. One Zoom account, bearing a picture of George Floyd as its avatar, unmuted itself and began playing a recording of the ‘n’ word. The school district shut that account down, but another account, which appeared to show an elderly white man, then unmuted itself and started playing the same track.
School District Public Information Officer Jessica McCartney, who was managing the Zoom platform, then shut down the Zoom element of the meeting, and the meeting continued without it.
Enumclaw PD’s investigation of the incident early on led to a search warrant of a Google account, and investigators identified a group which uploads videos of their interference with virtual meetings on YouTube for entertainment, referring to them as “raids.” The Enumclaw raid, like others the group has pulled off, doesn’t appear to be targeted at any one person or group, according to EPD, and the group, which appears to have members in the U.S. and Europe, has conducted about 23 such raids across those two regions.
According to EPD, criminal chargers from the case could have included disorderly conduct (RCW 9A.84.030) or disturbing school, school activities or meetings (RCW 28A.635.030). Both are misdemeanors.
EPD tied the accounts involved in the school district bombing back to Tampa, Florida and Crawley, West Sussex UK, but there was not enough information to identify who exactly was behind the incident at the Enumclaw School Board meeting, Floyd said.
This story will be expanded.
