‘Swatting’ prank led to huge police response in Roseville retirement community
Police are investigating an apparent so-called swatting incident after a pair of prank phone calls reporting a serious, violent crime resulted in law enforcement racing to a Roseville retirement community — only to find the emergency situation was “completely fake.”
The incident happened Tuesday afternoon, shortly after 4 p.m., when the Roseville Police Department’s dispatch center “received reports of a significant act of violence at a residence within the Sun City Roseville community,” the department said in a news release.
Sun City is a neighborhood located on the west side of Roseville that caters to adults age 55 and older on the west side of Roseville. It is made up of about 3,000 homes.
“As officers were developing a plan to stabilize the incident, the dispatchers began to identify inconsistencies with some of the information they obtained,” the news release said. “Within minutes, it was determined the people reporting this act had made everything up. ... Officers contacted the homeowners at the residence and determined the incident was completely fake.”
Swatting is an illegal and dangerous prank activity in which a person calls 911 to report a fake but extremely serious incident, leading large emergency response to show up at an unsuspecting resident’s home. In worst-case scenarios, law enforcement in the U.S. have mistakenly shot and killed victims of a swatting call.
The Roseville Police Department says it is investigating the incident, looking to identify the suspects responsible for making the false police reports. Tuesday’s swatting episode involved at least two separate 911 calls, police said.
