Family Of Alleged School Bomb Threat Caller Speaks Out

MARIETTA, OH — Nicholas John Francis Hall is behind bars in McDuffie County, Georgia. He stands accused of calling in 22 bomb threats to Washington County and other schools in Ohio earlier this month. The Washington County Sheriff’s Office worked with other law enforcement agencies to obtain this arrest. Their investigation led them to the conclusion that Hall made the bomb threats from an address in Georgia. They say Hall admitted to placing the calls. He’s waiting to be extradited to Ohio.

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But his grandmother, Angela Blackwood said there's more to the story.

"Nicholas is disabled, he has a mental disability," she said.

Hall, 18, has post-traumatic stress disorder from early abuse, bipolar disorder and possibly Asperger’s syndrome, Blackwood said.

"He’s been seeing a psychiatrist since he was five years old," she said.

Hall is expected to be moved to Washington County soon, and Blackwood said she will request a competency hearing once he arrives.

"From the conversations I’ve had with him, he still doesn’t understand the 22 charges," she said.

Even now, he doesn’t believe that he faces 22 charges, she added.

“I will tell you this, he has cooperated 100 percent, to his own detriment, because he doesn’t understand these charges," she said.

Blackwood also believes Hall made only some of the bomb threats — that someone else was also phoning in threats.

"My grandson has always stated to have not been the only person involved in this," she said.

She said everyone believes everything else he tells law enforcement, except that there was an accomplice. The bomb threats, she said, were made via three-way call, and there was another person on the line.

"The very first call, Nicholas did not do that call," she said.

Blackwood said they have reason to believe the other boy came up with the idea to do the bomb threats.

"The other boy is the one who wanted to call in the active shooter," she said.

They weren't able to identify who his friend is, but they say he's local.

"He’s young and probably in high school," she said. Hall’s grandfather asked not to be named. He said that law enforcement is discounting the idea of a second caller.

The investigation remains ongoing.

Captain Rhodes with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said if anyone else was involved, they want to know about it.

"Absolutely. The schools would as well, the kids, the parents. Our community was flipped upside down for a few days," he said.

Digital investigations take time because they have to forensically go through cellphones and computers.

"It’s hard to tell what will come out of it," he added.

Blackwood isn’t saying her grandson is innocent — he "accepts responsibility for his portion in this," she noted. But she said his phone was confiscated early on the day of May 11. Six more bomb threats were made that day.

"He made one call that day," she said.

And while the family doesn't want to excuse what happened, Blackwood feels the court needs to take certain factors here into consideration.

"I don’t want him to come up to Ohio and be hung out to dry," she said. She wants him to get a fair hearing and thinks it’s wrong that he’s been behind bars for more than two weeks without an attorney.

"Because Georgia isn’t charging him with anything, it’s just a hold," she said.

Therefore he's not entitled to a Georgia public defender.

"They said Ohio would give him one once he got here. I said what about all the people questioning him here?"

The Toombs Circuit Public Defender’s Office which serves McDuffie County declined to comment.

Blackwood isn’t sure if her grandson was offered an attorney prior to questioning. His grandfather said he should have been able to see his Ohio public defender even if it was via Zoom. "They have that technology now."

He said it’s no secret that there’s something wrong with his grandson, “How in God’s name, with all the supposed justice we have in this country, can someone be interrogated, when they know he has a mental deficiency, without an attorney?”

Captain Rhodes said he wasn't there in Georgia for the interview but did say it’s normal procedure to read the suspect their rights, which includes their right to remain silent. “I wasn’t privy to the conversation whereas to whether he waived his rights or whether he didn’t.”

There have been rumblings about the threats being related to getting his Washington County girlfriend out of school. “I doubt who she actually is, but to Nick, that was his girlfriend.” She said she heard them talking on the phone. “It made me want to throw up it was so cutsie.” The calls may not have been to get her out of school. “She made him upset and he reacted.”

They took exception to the fact that law enforcement is claiming that there is only one suspect. “Nicholas can tell you exactly who and what and when he called the schools.” She said he admitted to calling some of the schools, but not others. “Even the officers down here believe him. There’s no reason to go, oh yeah I made 12 of them but not 13.” His grandfather said even if there was some sort of legal benefit to doing that, Hall wouldn’t understand it.

Another thing Hall’s grandparents wanted folks to know is that he laughs when he’s nervous. “Instead of crying a lot of the time he’ll tilt his head down and start giggling.” Blackwood said they don’t want people thinking he finds these crimes funny if he starts laughing in the courtroom, or when he’s being walked to and from jail.

At the end of the day, the Blackwoods say their family just wants fairness and justice. “We want the punishment to fit the crime.” They’re worried that their grandson is going to be railroaded for crimes he didn’t do. Whether he did or didn’t do some or all of these crimes will be determined by a court of law. But Hall is innocent until proven guilty.

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