CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. — Cherokee County sheriff’s deputies arrested and confiscated a 15-year-old boy’s Sony PlayStation console and two cellular telephones after he made “swatting calls” to various residences.
In March, deputies responded to a residence on Gordon Circle in the Governors Preserve subdivision in Canton.
Deputies said 911 dispatchers received a call from an individual who said he lived at the Gordon Circle address and had just killed his mother and was about to kill his two sisters who were inside the home.
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The caller told the dispatcher he was barricaded inside the home and threatened to kill any responding law enforcement officers.
As deputies surrounded the house, a male exited and was confused, officials said.
The deputies were able to get the male to go to their location outside the home and called other residents within the home to come outside.
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Deputies said it began to appear the incident was a “swatting call.”
After more than 30 officers responded to the scene, it was determined there was no emergency at the residence.
Cherokee County officials launched an extensive investigation and determined a 15-year-old male suspect was identified as the caller.
The suspect is from Harlem, Georgia, according to law enforcement officials and he was arrested and charged with terroristic threats, transmitting a false emergency and misuse of 911.
Deputies released him to the custody of his grandmother.
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Further investigation showed the suspect made similar calls to North Carolina, Connecticut and Florida.
Those calls caused SWAT teams to enter two residences forcefully, deputies said.
The motivation for these calls? Online gaming disputes.
The 15-year-old’s voice was also captured in a recording in a Sony PlayStation party chat while making one of the swatting calls.
Deputies then executed a search warrant at his residence where his Sony PlayStation console and two cellular telephones were seized.
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