After dozens of police officers responded to a reported hostage incident on Long Island—only to find it was a hoax by a sore 'Call of Duty' loser—the FBI is on the case.
Long Beach police commissioner Michael Tangney said that someone called claiming that he had called his mother and brother and "said he was going to kill the first responders when they arrive." So an armed SWAT team was dispatched to the home, only to discover Maria Castillo making coffee and her sons safe inside. In fact, she couldn't get the attention of her 17-year-old son Rafael because he was still playing video games.
Rafael's brother Jose told the Post, "Some guy threatened to 'Swat' him. He was pissed that he had lost." Newsday reports:
This year, Suffolk police responded to three calls in Smithtown and North Bellport, all related to video games, said Deputy Chief Kevin Fallon. Two culprits were tracked down outside the country, Fallon said. No arrests have been made.
In January, someone from outside the United States called Suffolk police to say they were holding a hostage for ransom in Smithtown, Fallon said.
John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor Eugene O'Donnell said, "The idea of the cops entering the house is fraught with danger.... One of the occupants could have been killed." He added, "Teenage pranks are as old as the telephone. The new wrinkle on this is now you have the capacity to do it from anywhere. Tracking the person down and bring the person to justice can become a transnational matter.... Technology is leapfrogging before the best efforts of law enforcement."
Long Island police estimate the cost of the operation at $100,000. The call was made to the Long Beach police's office, vs. 911, and through Skype, which makes it a little more complicated to track the caller. The Post notes, "Police took Castillo’s Xbox as well as an iMac computer from their Long Beach home in hopes of finding clues that will lead them to nail down the IP address of the hoaxer. Stark said his department reached out to the Nassau County Police Department to use their forensic lab to analyze the electronic devices." The FBI says they are investigating, and Tangney said, "We don’t know who the fictitious caller is, but we do have names of the people that our victim was playing with."
