Possible Swatting Incident in Lewiston, Idaho
Early Wednesday morning, local residents in Lewiston, Idaho, woke up to the flashing headlights of local law enforcement. The Lewiston Police Department responded to a 911 call regarding a shooting. They received word that a man shot his girlfriend in the face and that he was holding her family hostage inside. The Lewiston Police Department reported that the call came in around 12:30 in the morning. Once the police officers responded to the scene, they found everyone inside safe with no danger of any kind.
The person who made the call and the residents of the home have not responded to anyone regarding this issue. They wish to not be on camera or to be identified. The residents claim that they were not involved in the situation at all. That morning, they received a call from the police checking on their safety. Following that strange call that they were very confused by, six members of the SWAT team came into their home.
Incidents similar to this are known as “swatting.” Swatting is when someone makes a fake call to 911 to get police officers to respond to a house in order to prank the residents of the place law enforcement responds to.
There have been very few deadly incidents of swatting. For example, in 2017, in Kansas, Andrew Finch was killed in a swatting incident. During a game of Call of Duty, opponents of Finch got into a heated argument and ended up making a fake 911 call to officers in order to get them to respond to Finch’s residence. There has been an increasing number of swatting incidents in recent years, especially against online professional gamers and streamers from fans or people who hate the person.
Incidents of swatting celebrities have also increased over the years when their addresses are leaked over the internet. Due to the increase in the number of incidents of swatting, laws have been passed to increase the penalties for this crime. This crime has a maximum punishment of life in federal prison or a minimum of 20 years.
The Lewiston Police Department have not confirmed if this was a form of swatting. They also don’t believe that the residents were a target of any kind. The call was ultimately determined to be fake and the situation is not seen as dangerous at this time.
The Lewiston Police Department will update the community as they get more information regarding this situation.