PUYALLUP, Wash. — A Twitch streamer and his family living in Puyallup were the victims of a swatting call late Monday night after an unknown caller delivered a false report of a shooting and potential suicide using the family’s address.
A swatting call is defined as a hoax 911 call that typically involves extreme violence and is aimed at diverting emergency public resources to an unsuspecting person’s home.
The Puyallup Police Department responded shortly after 11 p.m. after a caller said they had shot a woman and were going to commit suicide, saying they were located in a home in the 300 block of 12th Street NW.
Officers arrived on scene and staged a block away to develop a plan, according to an incident report. They were able to make contact via phone with one of the occupants in the home who exited from the home with her hands in the air and spoke with officers.
Officers said she had two sons with her, and they stayed outside while additional officers confirmed no one in the home was injured.
“These kids think this is a joke, or these people think this is a joke," the swatting victim, who wished to remain anonymous, said. "This is no joke, I mean lives could’ve been lost.”
One of the sons told police that he streams on Twitch, which is a video-sharing website mostly used by gamers. The son told police that his Twitch profile was somehow sold to someone without his permission last year, giving that person access to his home address, phone number and credit card information. Though he was able to regain control of his profile, the son said whoever purchased the account still had his address and phone number, officers said.
He told police that over the last year since the incident he received photo messages from who he presumes was the unknown purchaser, showing pictures of his house and messages saying that the person knows where he lives.
According to the son, the unknown person hasn’t made any demands from the son.
The number used to make the initial 911 call directed officers to a “TextNow” number, which is an app-based service.
The son had previously called Puyallup police worried that he might be the victim to a swatting call after he started receiving the messages, officers said.
Puyallup Police Captain Ryan Portmann said swatting can lead to dangerous situations.
“The officers are on a heightened alert, the homeowner’s on a heightened alert. Who’s knocking on my door at 11:30 at night, right? Why are you here? And so, yeah, if they come to the door with a gun, and we’re not able to quickly differentiate and diagnose what’s going on, there’s gonna be, or could be a negative consequence," Portmann said.
The swatting victim said they worry about the future.
“I don’t know how I’m gonna sleep again because they said they usually do it again and again," they said. "So, is the SWAT team gonna come out every time my son streams? I don’t know, and my son said, well maybe I should move out and I’m like you’re gonna move out, I don’t want you somewhere else, So we’re like, we don’t know what to do about it.”
Swatting is an issue for police in the western Washington region and across the U.S. The problem became so prolific that the Seattle Police Department created a couple of solutions that may help.
SMART 911 was created by Seattle police and allows residents to create a profile that lets first responders know about their household, which can include details like a resident who is deaf, hard of hearing, has a medical condition or an allergy.
First responders would check this information before they get to the residence’s door.
Seattle police also created the Rave Facility, which allows commercial properties to register swatting concerns at particular addresses. If a 911 call taker receives a report for an incident at a facility, they are able to simultaneously dispatch officers and check if property owners believe they are likely to get swatted.