Police say the person who made a hoax 911 call to Alpharetta police on Thursday reported three people, including a child, had been shot inside a residence in the posh Country Club of the South.
The caller also demanded $30,000 ransom for a woman he said was being held hostage inside the home, according to a Johns Creek police incident report obtained by The Atlanta Journal Constitution Friday.
The caller claimed he was calling from inside a home in the 7000 block of Carlisle Lane. 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, which has jurisdiction.
Johns Creek police immediately dispatched multiple well-armed police units to the subdivision that Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown once called home.
“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.
Three adults and two small children were inside the sprawling mansion when law enforcement arrived.
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, a woman inside finally came out, carrying one child and clutching the other by the hand.
According to the report, the woman told police that there was no one else inside the home.
A local news station reported at least 2 of the women were a nanny and a babysitter.
“She was understandably confused about the heavy police presence and being ordered out of the residence,” Smith wrote in the report.
After a sweep of the mansion, police found no one else inside.
“It appears at this time that the initial call is part of a growing trend referred to as ‘SWATTING,’” Smith said. The term ‘SWATTING’ was coined by the Dallas FBI office a few years ago after agents arrested a group who placed 60 hoax 911 calls.
Recent incidents of celebrity ‘SWATTING’ made the news in Los Angeles when prank callers sent SWAT teams and police rushing to stars’ homes on reports of gunmen, hostages and other crimes.
Smith wrote in his report that he spoke with one of the homeowners, and she “has no idea whom would target her home with this allegation.”
The 16,000 sq. ft. mansion with “spectacular views of lakes, creeks, fairway and greens” is on the same street as singer Usher Raymond’s mansion.
