CLARK COUNTY — A New Carlisle woman accused of texting her sister to report an active shooter at Navistar and told deputies the ‘April Fools Joke’ was payback has been indicted.
Pamela Sisco, 57, was indicted on felony inducing panic, court records show. She was issued a summons to appear in court at a future date.
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“She stated she was playing a joke on her sister for April Fools Day and trying to get her back from last year,” an affidavit filed in Clark County Municipal Court read.
Navistar confirmed Thursday Sisco had been fired from the business.
Court records show 34 law enforcement and EMS personnel responded to the Navistar plant on Urbana Road around 11:45 a.m. April 1 on a report of a possible active shooter.
That response came after Sisco’s sister called 911 after receiving text messages from Sisco.
“She said there was a guy that got fired yesterday and he came in with a gun and they are barricaded with the lights off in an office,” the sister said to a 911 dispatcher. “She sent me a text, and I’m afraid to text her if they are barricaded and hiding.”
Sisco declined to speak with News Center 7 after the incident.
The first law enforcement that showed up at the plant within two minutes went inside the building and attempted to locate the possible shooter.
“She put a lot of people in danger today over a stupid joke,” said Maj. Chris Clark with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.
Sisco was found inside the plant and when deputies approached her she said “this was an April Fools Joke she was playing on her sister” and that there “was no active shooter and she made the entire thing up,” court records read.
Deputies said Sisco willingly showed them her phone. Investigators said the phone “clearly shows he advised her sister they were locked in the office and she was hearing gunshots,” records show.
Emergency dispatch traffic obtained by News Center 7 showed about 18 minutes went by between the initial response of officers and officers being told to stand down after it was discovered it was a prank.
Cox Media Group
