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'Swatting' call near McHenry under investigation

A "swatting" call made in an unincorporated area near McHenry Tuesday night is under investigation by the McHenry County sheriff's office.

"Swatting" is the illegal act of falsely telling emergency services that a serious emergency situation is taking place in order to have police dispatched to a particular address.

According to the McHenry County sheriff's office, a male caller claimed to be using a firearm to hold three hostages late Tuesday evening. The caller gave a name and an address. He then demanded a ransom and threatened to start shooting hostages.

At 10:19 p.m., the authorities responded to a home in the 2800 block of North Magellan Drive. It was determined that there was no hostage situation and everyone in the house was fine. The name given by the caller belonged to a minor who lived at a different address. The authorities also determined that he had not placed the hoax call.

Sheriff Bill Prim noted that innocent people have died in similar incidents and that officers are unable to respond to real emergencies while responding to a hoax. On Tuesday, about 15 sheriff's deputies and Johnsburg police officers spent over two hours responding to the fake hostage call.

The investigation into the incident is ongoing.

The sheriff's office encourages anyone with information to call the department at (815) 338-2144, McHenry County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-762-STOP (7867) or contact the tip line email at TipLine@co.mchenry.il.us.

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