HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — A man says someone has repeatedly called the police, telling them he has a gun and wants to harm himself, officers, and others. It’s called swatting.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
Twenty-year-old Shaun Newberry says the person is trying to get the police to kill him.
Cameras at his home in Henry County recorded officers with guns drawn showing up at his home.
“Right here,” you hear Newberry say in the video captured back in December.
“Get your hands up,” you hear an officer yell to him.
“Yes, sir,” he replies.
Newberry says it was frightening when police showed up at his home and pointed guns at him, and then handcuffed him. He says he wanted to run back in the house, but thought that wasn’t a good idea.
“I didn’t want to get shot,” he told Channel 2’s Tom Jones for Channel 2 Action News at 5 p.m.
In the video, you hear officers explain what brought them out.
“Well, we got a call saying he felt like he wanted to shoot himself, or kill himself, or kill officers who showed up on scene, so we gotta take precaution.”
Newberry’s mother told officers someone on TikTok Live was trying to get her son killed by calling in fake calls to police.
That led police to tell Newberry this: “So you probably need to stay off TikTok.”
Newberry’s mother says cops have come back to their house for false calls at least three other times in the last seven months. One video was recorded Tuesday.
TRENDING STORIES:
- I-285 lanes to shut down again for weekend in Fulton County
- $2M in fake luxury bags lead to charges for 2 moms, police say
- Judge had sex in chambers with senior police official during business hours, report says
“He (her son) said he was told he was at that Walmart and he was threatening to bomb Walmart. Which he wasn’t,” McGinnis said.
Newberry says he was at home and never threatened anyone. He says this all started when he had an ugly breakup with a girl he met on TikTok. He said he said some mean things to her on TikTok.
Newberry says that’s when someone on TikTok told him he needed to die, and that’s when the swatting started.
“They were really hoping when they came out this last time for them to kick in the door and shoot me,” he said.
Newberry says he and his mother are frightened and now afraid of the police.
They say their TikTok troll is putting their lives in extreme danger.
“I just want it to stop before somebody seriously gets hurt,” McGinnis said.
The mother says they have given the police the screen name of their TikTok tormentor, as they don’t have their name.
Henry County police say they came out on the swatting call on Tuesday, and that report isn’t ready yet.
Jones reached out to Clayton County police after McGinnis said they came out on the Walmart call. Jones is waiting to hear back.
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]