Elk Grove Woman, 80, Falls Victim To 'Swatting'
ELK GROVE (CBS13) - Scary moments for an elderly woman living near Elk Grove. She says Sacramento County deputies surrounded her home after receiving a call about a hostage situation.
"When I came outside there were police officers all over. They asked me if I felt like killing somebody or shooting somebody and I didn't know what they were talking about," Frances Harris said.
Friday night, a terrifying call came into the sheriff's department. Dispatchers listen as the caller describes being threatened.
"I was supposed to have somebody in the house holding them hostage and that we had a gun and threatened to kill somebody," Harris said.
As the call continues, dispatchers start to notice the story doesn't sound real. But just in case, deputies surround the home the caller mentioned. When they arrived, there was no hostage situation. No one was threatening to kill anyone. It was just Harris, home on a Friday night.
The sheriff's department thinks this was a prank call or swatting. That's when someone calls 911, sending officers to a specific address when nothing is actually wrong.
"All I can say is I wish they would stop because I mean before someone really gets killed from doing this crap," Harris said.
Last year a man in Kansas was killed after a swatting call. When police got to the address the caller gave, officers say the person inside unexpectedly dropped his hands, and he was shot and killed.
Harris says she's grateful police take every call seriously, but everyone needs to do the same thing.
"It's not a joke because somebody could have easily got killed," Harris said.
