JACKSON — The first reported incident of “swatting” in Jackson gave one couple a rude awakening when police responded to their home for what turned out to be a hoax.
According to the FBI, swatting occurs when an individual calls 911 to report an emergency situation that is actually a hoax. The purpose is to draw a response from law enforcement, and the emergency response can include the deployment of a SWAT team.
Jackson Police Lt. Steven Laskiewicz said police received a call at 4:40 a.m. April 30 from a person who claimed he had stabbed his girlfriend in his Alabama Court home and intended to commit “suicide by cop” by attacking responding officers with a firearm and drawing fatal return fire from the officers.
Sgt. Frank Mendez and police officers Anthony Riso, Christopher Schinder, Edward Travisano, Michael Goelz and Tristan Bennett responded to the home.
Upon their arrival, the officers established a defensive perimeter around the home, but they did not hear or see any activity in the residence, according to Laskiewicz.
As police began seeking assistance from the Ocean County Regional SWAT team and a negotiator, the officers were able to contact a woman inside the home. The woman was brought outside for questioning.
The officers were told there was a man in the home with the same name as the person who made the call to police. The officers were told the man in the house was asleep when the call was made to police and that there had not been a stabbing at the location.
Laskiewicz said officers entered the home to confirm the woman’s statements and to interview the male resident. He said the officers concluded that the report of the emergency was a hoax.
The lieutenant said this was most likely the first swatting incident in Jackson.
“This was not so much a false police report, for example, somebody who crashed their car after reporting it stolen. This was a report of a stabbing and a suicidal and armed person seeking to shoot police officers,” Laskiewicz said. “This kind of report will get a response of officers expecting to encounter an armed suspect.”
The lieutenant said tracking down a suspect in a swatting incident is difficult to do because of new technology that can hide the source of a phone call. He said the technology “would make attempting to track the call very difficult, if not nearly impossible.”
Incidents of swatting have recently occurred at a public school in Holmdel and at a private residence in Upper Freehold Township. Those incidents remain under investigation, authorities said.
— Andrew Martins