COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – A 911 call reporting a shooting on North Willowbrook Road Monday afternoon has been confirmed by Coldwater police as a “swatting” hoax.
Just before 4:00p.m., a 911 caller claimed he had been shot and carjacked, prompting a massive response from local officers, firefighters, and paramedics.
Upon arrival, first responders found no evidence of a victim or a crime scene. According to Public Safety Director Joe Scheid, this latest incident is part of a troubling trend in which individuals use public web cameras to monitor emergency responses in real-time while streaming the hoaxes live.
This incident marks approximately the 20th swatting call the city has handled in the past two years.
Coldwater Police say that while these calls are difficult to trace due to the use of temporary internet-based numbers, federal investigators are now linking the local incidents to a nationwide task force based in Houston.
That task force is currently investigating a suspect believed to have made nearly 1,900 similar fake calls across the country.
Scheid emphasized that such hoaxes dangerously drain city resources and has advocated for these crimes to be prosecuted at the federal level to ensure stronger deterrents
Comments