Bogus swatting call to police leads to chaotic scene outside two California homes

Wednesday, October 2, 2019
Bogus swatting call to police leads to chaotic scene outside two Fresno County homes
Fresno County Sheriff's Office called it a case of "swatting," where someone pranks a victim by calling in a bogus call to authorities, prompting a large presence from first respon

FRESNO, Calif. -- It was an interesting afternoon for one family.

A man, who did not want to release his name, was playing games online when he claims he was threatened by another gamer.

"I told him he was harmless because he was threatening me," he said.

But not long after, a 911 call was made, the caller telling dispatchers he shot his mom.

The number was traced to an address in Fresno County, California.

Deputies immediately responded to the trailer, but the woman inside was fine.

"She is obviously scared to death, doesn't know what is going on. We asked her, 'Hey do you recognize this phone number?' She said, 'yea that belongs to my brother,'" said Fresno County sheriff's spokesperson Tony Botti.

The brother was at a different home with his mother not far away.

"I was sipping my tea. I have no idea what's going on. He (the son) came to me and told me about this. It was scary," the man's mother said.

Fresno Police officers assisted deputies and called the man while en route telling him to comply with orders, given the nature of the threat.

"They contacted us on the phone. He was giving the directions... He told me to follow all the directions as to what he was going to do and follow the directions on the phone and we came out with our hands up," the woman said.

ABC sister station KFSN cameras were rolling as the two walked out of the home with their hands up, safe, yet unsure of why they were targeted.

"I hope the person that (did) this gets caught," the man said.

Botti said they take these types of calls very seriously and they can be extremely dangerous for everyone involved.

"An innocent person can get hurt. We are going in there thinking we might find an armed suspect and then after that, you find out all these resources were thrown at this one incident which wasn't even real and you got all these other calls that we are holding back up that we didn't get our people, too," he said.

It's still unclear who exactly is responsible for making the fake phone call.

At this time, investigators do not know if the caller was local or from out of state.

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