6-3-20 fdl swatting call

The assistant Fond du Lac police chief says a swatting incident that occurred over the weekend, is more than just a prank call.   Steve Klein says the actions put the lives of innocent people in jeopardy.  “We have to take those calls seriously,”  Klein told WFDL news.  “We were able to quickly determine this was not any type of active threat.”   Dozens of officers armed with assault rifles swarmed the Mequon Avenue neighborhood Saturday night after police received a call that a woman was armed with a semiautomatic rifle threatening to shoot people in the street.   Klein says shortly after police arrived the woman came out of the house and police realized the call was not real.   Klein says it appears the call originated from California,  but he hesitates to speculate on a motive.   He says police are always concerned that a caller may be trying to divert law enforcement to one area of the city, while an actual crime is committed in another area.  Swatting is a hoax call  designed to dispatch a large number of armed police officers and first responders  to a residence.