Professional gamer in Burton says he was victim of this dangerous prank

A 911 call that sent deputies to a Burton home on Thursday night was an apparent dangerous prank popular among online gamers.

Someone called dispatchers to report a burglary in progress in Burton, a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office report said.

The resident victim was hiding in a closet, the caller said. Then the line went dead.

But when five deputies arrived and checked around the outside of the home, they saw nothing suspicious, a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office report said. Deputies knocked on the door and found a gathering of friends playing video games online.

A man told deputies he was a professional online gamer and had been the apparent target of “swatting,” a prank in which someone falsely reports a serious crime in hopes of directing a heavy police presence — perhaps a SWAT team — to a particular address.

The hoax gained national attention in December after a Wichita, Kan., man was shot and killed by police responding to a call of a hostage situation. Online gamers told The Wichita Eagle a spat between two Call of Duty players led to the prank call.

The Burton man told deputies he didn’t know who was behind the stunt and would check with another gamer who had been “swatted” earlier in the night.

This story was originally published January 19, 2018 at 4:32 PM with the headline "Professional gamer in Burton says he was victim of this dangerous prank."