Police release 9-1-1 audio after ‘swatting’ incident in Richmond Hill

Police are asking for the public’s help identifying a person who placed a fake 9-1-1 call, or “swatting” incident, that sent emergency responders bursting into a Richmond Hill home on Sunday morning.

Swatting is the act of tricking an emergency service into dispatching an emergency response based on a false report of an ongoing critical incident.

York police say they received a call from a man at 5:41 a.m. in which he told the dispatcher his father had an assault rifle and that he had shot another family member.

Investigators say the caller provided detailed information on the situation, his location and expressed immediate danger for his own safety.

Officers gained entry into the house and once inside, they found two adults and two children who had no knowledge of why police were there.

Police have released audio from the 9-1-1 call which you can hear below:

“Fake calls to 9-1-1 are not only resource intensive, but traumatic for all involved, from the family who had their door broken down, to the call-taker who took the 9-1-1 call, all the way through to the frontline officers who were responding to what they believed was an active shooter,” York police chief Eric Jolliffe said in a release.

“Thankfully in this case, no one was physically injured, but anytime our officers make entry into a home in what we all believe to be an emergency situation, there is a significant risk.”

Anyone found to be responsible for making these type of hoax calls could face a variety of criminal charges, including public mischief — which could result in up to five years in prison.

Police are advising people to be careful when posting information about where they live and details about their family on social media as swatters use this knowledge to make their call as believable as possible.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to contact police or Crime Stoppers.

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