WESTFIELD – The Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office says a weekend call involving an armed subject at a home in Westfield may have been part of a prank to get police to show up at someone’s home.
The Sheriff’s Office, along with New York State Police and Westfield Police, were called to an address on Pigeon Road in the Town of Westfield around 11:20 p.m. Saturday to respond to a report of an armed subject who had been involved in a shooting incident.
On arrival investigators learned that subject in question was not there but was located at a different address in the Village of Westfield. Deputies and Officers responded to that address and made contact with the subject, and an investigation revealed that there had been no shooting incident and the subject in question was unarmed.
A further investigation showed that the incident may have been a so-called “Swatting” prank – when an anonymous caller makes a false report about a dangerous situation in order to get a police SWAT team to show up at a person’s home.
No one was injured during this incident and no charges have been filed. The investigation into the false report is on-going.
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