20 July 2023
CLAYCOMO, Mo. — The Clay County prosecutor charged an Independence man in a swatting call that caused hundreds of employees to evacuate the Ford Assembly Plant in Claycomo on Tuesday evening.
Zachariah A. Peterson, 19, is charged with a class D felony of making a terrorist threat.
Investigators said Peterson is from Independence and was arrested at his home. He is currently in the Clay County jail.
“The probable statement indicates that the defendant made the call for the purpose of causing an evacuation,” Clay County Prosecutor Zachary Thompson said.
“He made a call to the plant stating he was armed with an AK-47 and a pound of C4 explosives strapped to his chest. He did that for the purpose of causing an evacuation so an acquaintance of his would not have to go to work.”
Thompson said Peterson faces up to seven years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000, if convicted.
Numerous agencies responded to the Ford Assembly Plant around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday after a caller claimed to be armed with explosives, a rifle and a handgun. The caller said he was barricaded in the second floor bathroom in the paint area of the plant.
“We had some indication that the threat may not be legitimate, but we couldn’t rule that out at that time. We had to treat it as though there was an imminent threat,” Clay County Sheriff Will Akin said.
After searching the plant for six hours, investigators determined the person was not inside the plant.
The Clay County Sheriff said there were about 2,200 employees at work inside the 6-million-square-foot plant at the time of the call. They evacuated the plant and canceled production for the night shift.
“Ford employees are trained in this type of event. They Clay County Sheriff’s Office and Claycomo Police Department as well as the Liberty Police Department have partnered with Ford to actually do tabletop exercises and talk about how to respond to such incidents,” Akin said.
Officers also used drones to make sure the plant was searched thoroughly while others worked to locate the caller.
No one was injured in the incident.