AVALON, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — Police at the Jersey Shore are searching for the people behind three swatting incidents in Avalon over the weekend.
Swatting is the act of making false reports in order to send law enforcement to someone else’s address. Someone used an online chat reporting system to make a bomb threat at the Concord Hotel in Avalon on Saturday, prompting a serious police response.
Avalon Police Chief Jeff Christopher says they also received two other bogus reports about a man killing his mother at a home on Dune Drive, just a block away from the hotel.
“We have to take them all seriously,” he said. “We are trained in these hoaxes, so we’re looking for certain criteria when we respond to these calls. And I think from the very beginning we had a pretty good idea this was going to be a hoax.”
Still, they have to divert resources to investigate. Christopher says depending on the claim, making these sort of false reports for swatting can result in a second-degree felony, which can come with five to 10 years in jail.
Given the nature of the reports, Christopher says it looks like the same person was behind all three incidents.
“To anybody that thinks this is just a harmless prank, I would say that the consequences are going to be severe and we don’t take it lightly,” he said.
“Detectives are getting close and we’re not going to stop until we do identify a suspect, and bring that suspect to justice.”