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More than 60 emergency responders, including a SWAT team, swarmed a house in New York after police received a call from someone claiming to be a 17-year-old boy who had just killed his mother and brother. The caller contacted police over Skype yesterday afternoon to say he was Rafael Castillo and that he had not only murdered his family members, but was prepared to shoot even more people. The caller even provided police with his address.
But when cops responded, they discovered everything was just peachy keen. Rafael's mom was alive and well -- making coffee in the kitchen -- while his brother had just returned home from lunch. And where was Rafael? Doing the one thing that gave police some idea of who may have been behind the vicious prank call that cost its department $100,000 -- he was playing video games.
Cops believe the caller was someone who had played and lost against Rafael in the popular Call of Duty video game. As an act of revenge, which is referred to as "swatting" -- if you can wrap your mind around the fact that this is a "thing" that has been done before -- the defeated player called police to report the teen had committed murder. The point of this "game" is to put cops on high alert and, I'm guessing, embarrass the winning player.
Here's another crazy part of this super-absurd story: police reportedly spent about two hours surrounding the teen's home and trying to get him out onto the street. They called his cell and he didn't answer it because he had headphones on and was too engaged in his game. Even his poor mother, who had no idea what was going on outside of her home, thinks her son plays too many video games and should get a job.
As for the prankster, cops are still trying to trace his online call so they can make an arrest. Given how much money this incident cost taxpayers, it might be a good idea to make the gamer work and help pay back a portion of the $100K. And I can't say I would be too sad if he were stripped of his video game console, either.
Have you heard of "swatting"? What penalty do you think the prankster should have to face?
Image via Campus Party Mexico/Flickr
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