A 15-year-old Georgia teenager was arrested after he was accused of making a prank call, or “swatting” call, that resulted in dozens of officers being sent to a home, police said.
Police received a call on March 19 from someone who said he had killed his mother and was about to kill his two sisters, and that he planned to kill any law enforcement officers who tried to intervene, according to a news release from the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies headed to the alleged caller’s house and called for a SWAT team. When they arrived, a man who seemed “confused and alarmed” came outside. Officers called the man over and also asked for others inside the house to come outside. They realized they were responding to a swatting call and that there was no emergency, the release said.
Over 30 officers from multiple locations responded to this call, Macon.com reports.
Police suspect that the boy is also responsible for similar swatting calls in Windsor Lock, Connecticut; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Tampa, Florida, the release said. SWAT teams responded to two of the calls and “made forced entry” into the homes, the release said.