LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — A heavy police presence descended on Jefferson Street in Lexington Thursday morning after a 9-1-1 caller reported a homicide and hostage situation. But when officers got to the scene they found no such incident.
What happened appeared to have been a “swatting” type incident, Lexington police Lt. Dan Truex said.
Swatting is when someone calls 9-1-1 reporting a fake incident that will bring police to the home of someone else. It’s often tied to online video gaming.
After LEX 18 Investigatesreported on a swatting incident in Scott County, the Kentucky legislature made swatting a felony last year.
In the Lexington incident, police were able to contact the two people who live at the house in question, a father and son. They learned the two were at work and did not make the 9-1-1 call.
Ziro Brown told LEX 18 Investigates that he got a call from a strange number Thursday morning and hung up. Not long after, police called him about a 9-1-1 call that came from his number.
"I was shocked," Brown said.
Brown hadn’t made the call, but whoever did was able to spoof his number and make it look like he did.
“The cops said that I shot my dad,” Brown said. “And like, my dad was at work before I even left the house.”
Brown said that he doesn’t know who made the call or why but said he does play video games and thought it could be linked to that.
“I wasn’t really nervous at all, because I knew I didn’t do anything,” Brown said. “So, I just wanted everything to get straightened out.”
Brown said that the police did their job by responding the way that they did.
“They had to make sure everything was good,” Brown said.
