Police: Report of shooting inside St. Francis home was "swatting" incident

ST. FRANCIS, Wis. (CBS 58) -- St. Francis Police were called to a home in the 4400 block of S. Delaware Avenue after a caller claimed to have shot a family member inside of a home. Police say the call turned out to be a hoax.

It happened around 6:34 p.m. on Monday.

Police and the South Shore Joint Tactical Team arrived on scene. Officers were able to make contact at the home and determined that everyone was safe and unaware that a call of such nature had been placed.

Investigators determined that this was a "swatting" incident. 

According to police, swatting is a harassment tactic of deceiving an emergency service (via such means as hoaxing an emergency services dispatcher) into sending a police and emergency service response team to another person's address. This is triggered by false reporting of a serious law enforcement emergency.  

An investigation into the origin of the call is ongoing.

Police would like to reiterate that there is no immediate danger to the public as a result of this “swatting” incident.