‘Swatting’ incident causes stir

russell.payne@thevindicator.com

the early afternoon hours on Friday, April 12, claiming that a man had shot his wife and was holding his children hostage in the Spur Forest subdivision near Kenefick.

Emergency personnel responded quickly to the area, and Sheriff Bobby Rader told The Vindicator that the incident prompted a serious and fast response. DPS, Dayton PD and the Baytown SWAT team joined the LCSO.

“It put a lot of people’s lives in jeopardy when you have that many people running hot to a scene, and fortunately, nobody got hurt in the process,” LCSO Capt. David Meyers said.

As news of the incident broke, investigators attempted to identify the location; however, a short while later, it was determined the call had been a hoax.

At the time, Rader said the call was what is referred to as “swatting,” which is the act of making a fictitious call to law enforcement claiming a dangerous scenario, like a shooting, kidnapping, or other violent crimes, in hopes of a large police response.

The practice has become a dangerous trend across the country and could lead to serious injury.

According to Meyers, the call appears to have come from somewhere in Canada, and pinpointing the exact location was virtually impossible.

Investigators determined that the caller’s residence description came from an image on Google Maps and did not match the actual property, as it had since been updated.

According to Meyers, it was the first such incident he knew of in Liberty County, reiterating it created a dangerous situation for all involved while diverting signifi cant law enforcement resources.