False report of hostages prompts massive police response in Fort Worth
A false report of a hostage situation prompted a massive police response to a residence in a west Fort Worth neighborhood Tuesday night, according to police call logs.
The caller told dispatchers he was hiding in a closet because his brother had a rifle and was holding their grandmother hostage, police said.
Officers and SWAT teams responded to the scene on Westland Avenue at around 5 p.m. Tuesday after receiving the report, according to the call logs.
Over 30 law enforcement and medical units were dispatched to the scene, according to an online incident report.
Police later determined the call was false — which is known as swatting — and there were no hostages, officials said.
Gigi Howell, the proprietor of JD’s Hamburgers on West Camp Bowie Boulevard near the scene, made light of the situation close to the restaurant in a Facebook post captioned “Weather report.”
In the video, Howell pretends to be a reporter delivering confusing information about the upcoming winter storm.
“Besides the weather, I don’t think there’s much else going on out here,” Howell says with dozens of police cars visible behind her.
Fort Worth police will investigate the incident, officials said in a statement Tuesday night.
