MABLETON, Ga. — Neighbors want to know who called dozens of officers to their neighborhood with their guns drawn.
Channel 2’s Tom Jones spoke to people in a Mableton neighborhood who said someone called 911 with a fake story about someone being shot.
A few years ago, several lawmakers were the targets of so-called “swatting” calls like these. After that, swatting became a felony, and those convicted of doing it could face serious jail time.
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Lakesha Crawford told Jones that she woke up on Thursday morning to police with guns, an ambulance and police lights all over the Legacy at the Riverline subdivision.
“I mean, it was disturbing and scary,” she said.
“I’m like, ‘Oh, my God. Somebody got shot. Somebody, the ambulance just took somebody out of here,’” neighbor Shelia Edwards said.
When she asked officers what was happening, they told her everything was OK.
“It was a fake 911 call, no public safety risk,” an officer can be heard telling Edwards on a video.
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“I was outdone when I heard that. I really was. This is nothing to play with,” neighbor Clara Wilson said.
They say they hope police can figure out who made the call because it could have ended much worse.
They say police could have mistaken a jogger for a criminal.
“With all the technology that happens, I hope they can find the person that did this,” Crawford said.
State Rep. Terry Cummings also lives in the neighborhood and told Jones that a police commander told her that swatting calls can be hard to hunt down because those responsible use disposable phones.
Swatting now carries a sentence of up to five years for a first offense.
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