Elderly couple falls victim to ‘swatting’ call in Burke County, sheriff says

MORGANTON, N.C. — An elderly couple in Burke County were victims of a “swatting” call Tuesday afternoon and authorities are investigating who is responsible for the hoax.

Just before 2 p.m., the Burke County Emergency Communications Center received a call from someone saying they had just shot their mom and dad with an AK-47 rifle at a home on David Bryant Avenue in Morganton.

”I don’t know if I can do this anymore,” the caller told emergency dispatch. “I tried to kill my parents, and I don’t know if I can live with myself.”

The caller hung up after making the statement.

Deputies were dispatched to the home and made contact with neighbors and family members and found that everyone in the house was safe.

The criminal misuse of 911, particularly in this example of swatting, is a serious, irresponsible, and selfish act against all citizens, the sheriff’s office said in a release.

“This criminal caller creates risk for the traveling public as the emergency services of law enforcement, EMS, and other first responders are dispatched and travel to the scene as quickly as possible to render aid. This criminal act can negatively impact the ability for sufficient emergency personnel to be available to respond to legitimate calls of service for children, adults and the elderly whose well-being and life may be put in jeopardy,” the sheriff’s office said.

“Swatting is a criminal harassment tactic of deceiving an emergency service (via such means as hoaxing an emergency services dispatcher) into sending a police and emergency service response team to another person’s address,” the release said. “This is triggered by false reporting of a serious law enforcement emergency, such as a bomb threat, murder, hostage situation, or a false report of a ‘mental health’ emergency, such as reporting that a person is allegedly suicidal or homicidal and may or may not be armed.”

Rosa Oxendine, who was in Tennessee, said she rushed to get to her parent’s home -- not knowing it was a hoax. She said her parents, who were home at the time, saw a big law enforcement presence around their house.

Paramedics and EMTs also staged about a half-mile away.

“Either one of them could have had a heart attack,” Oxendine said about all the police activity outside her parent’s house. “It makes me mad as hell.”

Oxendine’s parents were OK, and they had no idea who would do that to them.

The Burke County Sheriff’s Office is still trying to identify the person who placed the call. Anyone with information should call the Burke County Sheriff’s Office at 828-438-5500 or Morganton/Burke Crimestoppers at 828-437-3333.

(WATCH BELOW: ‘Swatting’ hoax leads to authorities swarming local man’s home)

‘Swatting’ hoax leads to authorities swarming local man’s home ‘Swatting’ hoax leads to authorities swarming local man’s home

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