Mass Text Results In 'Extreme Amount' Of Calls To Police: OFPD

OAK FOREST, IL — A mass group text message was mistakenly sent from Eagle Sports Range in Oak Forest Tuesday morning, according to the business. The message told recipients — anyone who has ever purchased a gun from the facility in the past — a background check has been approved, and that they may pick up a firearm with valid Firearm Owners Identification(FOID) in hand, 72 hours from the time of purchase.

Eagle Sports Range is a firearm facility, with services including gun courses, conceal carry licensing and pistol ranges. The business opened in the city in October 2016, and is located at 5900 W. 159th St., Oak Forest.

The text message read:

"(Eagle Sports Range) Great News! Your background check has been approved. You may pick up your firearm with your valid FOID card in hand as long as it has been a FULL 72 HOURS from your time of purchase. Thank you for your patience with us during this time!"

Eagle Sports Range Manager R.J. told Patch this error has never happened before, but did not feel comfortable sharing how many people received the text message. The manager said the business received "way too many" phone calls.

"When the first text was sent out we received call after call, and it was more than we could even handle," R.J. said. "We have it under control now and responded to all emails and Facebook messages."

The text was sent out around 9:07 a.m. from the business, Oak Forest Police said. The message caused an "extreme amount" of calls to the Oak Forest Police Department Telecommunications Center, who soon after sent officers to the sports range, police said. Management told officers the message was sent out by mistake, and was only meant to go to specific people who actually purchased a firearm.

Police said after talking to the business in person, an additional message was sent to all recipients saying the text was an error, just after 10:30 a.m. Eagle Sports Range took to Facebook stating "We are fully aware of the error and are on top of it this morning."

The business also received over 130 comments regarding the message. Many comments pertained to the business not answering phone calls. Some Facebook users raised concern of personal information being compromised, but the business denied it, calling it a human error.

"One of our employees was sending out a text to those whose background checks were approved. Instead of clicking a few, they clicked all," Eagle Sports Range told a customer. "Please understand this was a human error, not in any way a breach. No information was leaked. This was all through a texting service we use as a small business. We do apologize for the inconvenience."

The business also said that if a purchase was actually made by a recipient of the message, that the text does not confirm their background check is complete.

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