'Swatting' Call Triggers Huge Police Response In Long Beach, Long Island
LONG BEACH, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Police sent a swat team to a Long Island home after receiving a call about a possible hostage situation that turned out to be a hoax.
About 60 officers and emergency personnel responded to the Long Beach home on Tuesday.
Police say they believe the incident was a case of "swatting,'' a trend among online video game players.
The caller has not been identified.
Long Beach Police Commissioner Michael Tangney says authorities believe it was an anonymous online video game player upset after losing a game called Call to Duty to a teen at the Long Island home.
He said police took the call "very seriously.''
He called swatting "a tremendous waste of taxpayer resources.''
Another swatting incident triggered a similar response in Long Beach last year.
In that incident, police received a call from a man saying he had shot members of his family and was threatening to kill others on Laurelton Boulevard. Nassau County, Long Beach, MTA police and an ambulance responded with their SWAT teams and hostage negotiators, but when police entered the home, they found everyone inside safe and unharmed.
A 17-year-old boy inside the house, who was playing "Call of Duty" against someone else online, was the apparent victim of the prank, according to officials.
Sen. Charles Schumer this week introduced legislation to crack down on swatting. The measure would increase penalties for perpetrators and make them pay restitution to police.
Over the weekend, a New Jersey man was live-streaming video on YouTube when a SWAT team showed up at his door. Police responded to the home in Keyport around 1:30 p.m. Sunday after an anonymous call claimed someone inside had stabbed a woman and was holding hostages. Police quickly determined the call was a hoax.
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