Police responded to a house in the 1400 block of S. Washington after a caller made false claims of a shooting, according to Bloomington Police Lt. John Kovach.
A man called the police around 10:41 p.m. Monday night and claimed his mother had stabbed his friend who ran away, and he had then shot his mother twice, and she was dead, according to Kovach. He later told police he’d also been, “stabbed below the lungs.” Then the caller then told police he was going to kill himself, police officers, and others.
Police responded to the address where the caller advised he was calling from on S. Washington. But, when police tried to call the number provided by the caller, it wouldn’t ring, because the number was “ghosted” according to Kovach. A recorded message said the number was disconnected.
What police found instead was a vacant house, which is currently being used as an Airbnb rental. Police made entry to the house, and nobody was inside, and there was no evidence anybody had been harmed, said Kovach. The caller did not give names of the alleged victims but instead used the terms, mom, and friend. The caller gave his alleged name, but police don’t believe it is the caller’s actual name.
Police are continuing to investigate to learn the real identity of the caller who “swatted” the house. Swatting, which is a crime, is the practice of making a crank call to emergency services to cause the dispatching of large numbers of armed police.
The tactic has resulted in deaths and is used as a form of harassment.
More information about Swatting can be found on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swatting#Injuries_or_deaths_due_to_swatting
