Seattle police are grappling with a new and potentially dangerous kind of prank called 'swatting.' That's where the prankster calls 9-1-1 on a friend or unsuspecting enemy and reports a fake crime like hostage situations, shootings or other acts of violence.
The idea is to scare the intended victim by sending police to their home, sometimes with weapons drawn. A Wichita, Kansas man was killed last year in a 'swatting' call.
On Monday, a California man was arraigned in federal court on charges in connection with a swatting call that turned deadly in Kansas. The man called Wichita police from Los Angeles late last year to report a shooting and kidnapping at a Wichita home, investigators said. When police showed up, they killed a 28-year-old man when he opened the door. The man was not the intended target of the hoax call, police said. (KOMO 4 News, October 1, 2018)
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In the case of the man killed by police in the swatting incident in Wichita, a police sniper killed the occupant of the home when he answered the door. The sniper claimed that the man was reaching for a gun at his waist. There was no gun!
In Seattle, the police have set up a 'Smart 911' system that allows Seattle residents to register information with the police department that will be seen by police dispatchers. This system can be used if you are concerned about swatting, or if you have other concerns such as a deaf person living at a residence who could not hear commands from police.
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