BARROW COUNTY, Ga.,None — It's a problem that police across the country say they are dealing with: People making prank calls sending police and SWAT teams on a wild goose chase and putting innocent people at risk.
The FBI has coined a term for this: "swatting."
"I didn't know what to think. I was just scared. I was just trying to get home," said Shameka Williams.
Williams told Channel 2's Kerry Kavanaugh she was racing to get home after a frantic call from her daughter Jan. 3.
Channel 2's cameras were also there when the Barrow County Sheriff's Office descended upon a Kendall Park neighborhood after they received a 911 call that someone had been shot inside the home. The caller said the shooter was still inside and was threatening to kill himself.
Police were responding to the home as Samira Barnett, 9, was about to walk her dog.
"They was telling him to put his stuff down and pointing the gun at him," she said.
Samira said the SWAT team surrounded her home and brought her father out at gunpoint. That's when the girls called their mother.
"Once she gave the officer the phone, the officer was like 'We got a call here about a murder and we trying to get everything under control,'" Williams said.
Investigators said it took about an hour to determine the call was a hoax.
"It takes only one of these incidences to become a real tragedy," Special Agent Stephen Emmett with the FBI said.
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Emmett said it's a nationwide trend.
Channel 2 has been tracking the trend across the Atlanta metro.
Kavanaugh learned the Barrow County swatting call was one of three they knew of that week.
Gwinnett County police confirm they're investigating a swatting call at a Lilburn address on Jan. 2.
The Channel 2 Action News Assignment Desk heard another false shooting call in DeKalb County Jan. 4.
Emmett said because the officers are anticipating the worst, anything could go wrong when homeowners react.
"They don't know it is law enforcement because they didn't make that call," Emmett said.
"You have to realize, you have family members and kids. It's just too much. It was real scary," Williams said.
So far, local authorities in metro Atlanta have not prosecuted anyone for violations related to swatting, but the FBI has taken charges against prank callers in other states.
Investigators would not elaborate but said the pranksters are using ever evolving technology to steal caller ID's and IP addresses, making them difficult to track.
WSBTV
