The person who made a hoax 911 call to Alpharetta police Thursday reporting a triple shooting inside a Country Club of the South mansion also demanded a $30,000 ransom for a woman he claimed to be holding hostage, according to a Johns Creek police incident report released Friday.
The caller, who claimed to be making the 4:28 p.m. call from a home in the 7000 block of Carlisle Lane, said a man, woman and child had been shot.
According to the incident report, “no additional information was obtained as the call was dropped” during the transfer from Alpharetta police to Johns Creek police, whose jurisdiction includes the gated Country Club of the South development.
Johns Creek dispatched multiple patrol units to the home, with some officers setting up a perimeter while others took up positions that would give views of the house from all sides.
Those officers were well-armed for what was believed to be a multiple shooting and hostage situation.
“Due to the nature of the call, numerous personnel deployed department-issue long guns, patrol rifle or shotgun, while others had their department-issued pistol unholstered,” according to the report.
Shortly after officers arrived, two women “suddenly exited the residence,” the report states.
“I gave verbal instructions for the two to follow the driveway to the cul de sac,” Johns Creek Officer D.L. Smith wrote in the report. “Both indicated that no one was injured inside the residence and that three other persons, an adult and two children, remained inside.”
After numerous unsuccessful attempts to reach those still inside by telephone, officers made several announcements over a patrol vehicle’s public address system “directing persons inside come to the front door,” according to the report.
The woman inside finally came out, carrying one child and clutching the other by the hand, and the three were led to a “safe area where they were hastily debriefed.”
According to the report, the woman told police that there was no one else inside the home.
“She was understandably confused about the heavy police presence and being ordered out of the residence,” Smith wrote in the report.
Police then entered the home and “after the entire residence was checked, I broadcast over the police radio that the residence was clear and that the call was a hoax,” Smith said. “It appears at this time that the initial call is part of a growing trend referred to as ‘SWATTING.’ This is a call designed to mobilize numerous law enforcement and emergency resources and personnel to an unwitting residence or business.”
Smith said in his report that he spoke with one of the homeowners, and she “has no idea whom would target her home with this allegation.”
Attempts by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution to reach the homeowners by phone were unsuccessful.
Johns Creek police Friday were still investigating, trying to determine who placed the initial hoax call.
About the Author
