2024-04-11@1:11pm–#Fairfield CT– Fairfield Police responded to Notre Dame of Fairfield on Jefferson Street for an incident that police determined it was a prank swatting incident. Swatting is a term used to describe the action of making hoax phone calls to report serious crimes to emergency services.

Website Cloudflare says “Swatting refers to a harassment technique most often perpetrated by members of the online gaming community. Swatting entails generating an emergency law enforcement response against a target victim under false pretenses. Swatters do this by making phone calls to emergency lines like 911 and falsely reporting a violent emergency situation, such as a shooting or hostage situation.

Swatters often consider what they are doing to be a prank, but it can come with serious consequences. Swatting occupies law enforcement response teams, making them unavailable to respond to real emergencies. There have even been swatting incidents where law enforcement officers were shot, and in one case the victim of the swatting was shot dead by law enforcement.”