CHARLOTTESVILLE (WINA) – Charlottesville Police are investigating what they’ve determined to be a “swatting” call that came into the emergency communications center around 9 this (Monday) morning. Chief Micheal Kochis tells NBC29 someone called and told the dispatcher they had shot a relative in the chest in the 2000 block of Michie Drive… which is just off Hydraulic near the Brandywine subdivision. Officers arrived and the caller said “might as well take more people with them”. Officers were able to do a search and talk to neighbors and determine the call a hoax.
Charlottesville Police have dealt with swatting cases before with one last year at Charlottesville High School, and more at Buford Middle School. The General Assembly upped the ante on swatting this past winter making it a Class 1 misdemeanor.