Crime & Safety
Greenwich Police Investigate 'Swatting' Incident
Police say someone made two calls reporting hostages were being held during a domestic dispute.
Greenwich Police are investigating a ‘swatting’ incident Monday that prompted the closure of River Road in Cos Cob for more than an hour during the evening rush hour.
It was 6 p.m. when the Greenwich Public Safety Dispatch Center received “two calls where the reporting person falsely described a violent domestic incident with hostages being taken” at the River Landing Condominiums at 115 River Rd., according to a Greenwich Police statement released Tuesday morning.
Police said, “Although the initial call lacked some credibility, officers were dispatched to investigate. River Road between East Putnam Avenue and Robertson Lane was closed for little over one hour during the investigation. Based upon all the available facts our investigators are pursuing the incident as a hoax with its originator currently unknown.”
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Police spokesman Lt. Kraig Gray said, “To our highly experienced dispatchers, the calls seemed less than credible. Officers went door-to-door checking on residents. There was no evacuation” or need to deploy the department’s Special Response Unit.
Monday’s incident was much different than a swatting incident that occurred nearly a year ago on Round Hill Road.
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On April 17 police received a report that an armed person had taken hostages in a Round Hill Road home. The call prompted a full turn-out by the Greenwich Police Department’s Special Response Unit, which after several hours, was deemed the report a hoax. On May 8, 2014, a 16-year-old Canadian boy was arrested on charges that he used the Internet to create false reports of hostage situations in cities around the United States and Canada, including Greenwich.
“The Greenwich Police Department will continue to investigate this very serious incident and attempt to identify its perpetrators,” police said.
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