RPD: Online gaming may have led to "swatting" call in Rochester

(ABC 6 News) — Rochester police got a call from someone saying he shot his uncle, had an AR-15-style gun and would shoot police officers if they showed up. It turns out, the entire thing was a hoax.

That call came into dispatch just after 10:00 p.m. on Monday, October 18. Police responded to a home on the 3500 block of Birchwood LN SW, set up a perimeter on the home and tried to make contact with the people inside .

After police got on the loudspeaker, a 44-year-old man who lives there came out of the home. He gave police permission to go inside and look around. Police went inside and didn’t find anyone else in the home.

According to Rochester Police Captain Casey Moilanen, investigators determined that the call came from an IP address in Australia.

The man at the home told police he has a nephew who lives out of state who likes to play online video games with people around the world. The uncle said its possible his nephew made someone mad during a game, leading them to make that swatting call.

Police are continuing to investigate.