A very scary and potentially dangerous situation in Garnett, turned out to be a prank. Yesterday afternoon, the Garnett Police Department received a call of a shooting. The caller said he had shot someone and was holding hostages and was armed with multiple guns. He gave a name and a specific address. A perimeter was set up around a residence in the 400 block of West 3rd Avenue by Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, the Highway Patrol, and their Special Response Team and the Coffey County Special Response Team. Once contact was made with the people inside the home, the caller said police would have to come in and get him.
The three occupants of the home were contacted and interviewed by Police, none knew who made the call or why. Police searched the residence and no evidence was found of a call being made by any of the residents cell phones. It was determined that the call was a “Swatting Incident”. “Swatting” is where a false report of a serious crime is made at a location to initiate a large police response. Most of the calls are initiated through some type of game console via the internet. There was a gaming system hooked up at the home.
A Swatting call in Wichita in 2017 led to the death of the homeowner. Two people from California were arrested and convicted in the crime.
