The occupants of a home in northern Stafford County got an unsuspected knock on the door from the Stafford sheriff’s office today.
Deputies were sent to a home near the intersection of Telegraph Road and Brentsmill Drive in the Widewater area.
A 911 caller reported that someone at the home had been shot, said Stafford sheriff’s Maj. Shawn Kimmitz. The caller then hung up and the dispatcher was unable to get them back on the line, he added.
A swarm of deputies and fire and rescue personnel were sent to the home at 1:50 p.m. to find no one was shot. Inside the home, they found occupants inside the home curious as to why public safety crews were paying a visit.
Now, detectives are working to trace the call to find out where it came from and who placed it.
Authorities believe it was made over the internet, with a tool that allows callers to mask their caller ID in a practice commonly known as “swatting.” That’s where pranksters dial 911, give a false report of a shooting that has taken place, in an effort to have police send a SWAT team to the home.
It’s a deadly game, as some, in some cases, police have confused innocent victims with shooting suspects and have shot and killed them.
“These kinds of cases are difficult to prosecute, but we’re going to do our best to prosecute someone for this,” Kimmitz added.
The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office had a large response for a reported shooting in the area of Telegraph Road and Brentsmill Drive. The incident was determined to be a swatting incident. Swatting is a prank call to emergency services to elicit a large police response. pic.twitter.com/rQaOc6nu8A
— StaffordCoSheriff (@staffcosheriff) September 2, 2020
