Oakland County SWAT Team Responds to Hoax

Royal Oak police said a Saturday morning report that a man had barricaded himself inside a house and taken two hostages at a house in the 1100 block of royal was actually an instance of “swatting,” a hoax that has been sweeping the country.

Royal Oak police and the Southeast Oakland County SWAT team responded to the residence about 11:04 a.m. after receiving a 911 call in which an unknown suspect claimed he had stabbed two females at the residence and was armed with a shotgun, according to a police statement.

Police established a perimeter and advised neighbors to remain in their homes. The annual “Mind Over Matter” 5K run/walk was diverted to ensure the safety of the race participants.

After about an hour “officers began to realize this may be a swatting call, which is a term commonly used to describe a false report causing a significant police response,” Royal Oak police said in a news release.

Related:

• ‘Swatting’ Sends West Bloomfield’s Special Response Team to Fake Hostage Call

During the incident, police made contact with a man inside the house, who was working at his computer in the basement and was unaware of the heavy police presence outside his residence. After interviewing him, police realized they had been punked.

“False reports of this nature create a very dangerous situation for responding emergency services and the community,” police said in the statement. “The person who called in this fake report committed a felony, which carries a penalty of up to four years in prison.

In a similar hoax last year, police in West Bloomfield dispatched a special operations team after receiving a call from a man who claimed he had shot his wife with an AK-47, planted explosives throughout the condo, and taken a neighbor hostage and killed him.

Also last year, Oakland County sheriff’s deputies responded to a residence in Independence Township after getting a call that a man with a machine gun had taken hostages.

The FBI says swatting has resulted in some close calls, including the injury of a police officer en route to a hoax. Also, the FBI said, some victims have suffered mild heart attacks when SWAT teams show up at their doors.

The hoaxes are usually the work of a computer hacker who’s able to make it seem a call came from a specific address.