Union County experiences first ‘swatting’ incident

Union County unfortunately was victim of what has been called “swatting” in other parts of the country early Friday.

This is when someone makes a false call to law enforcement saying there is a dangerous situation at a location calling for extreme response.

Sheriff Jimmy Edwards said New Albany police received a call about 8 a.m. saying an individual had shot his wife, was barricaded in his house and would shoot anyone who approached.

Law enforcement mounted a strong response going to the house but did not find the person there.

“We later stopped him on the road and he knew nothing about it,” Edwards said.

Edwards did not name the victim since he was unaware of what was going on, but he said local law enforcement is working very hard to identify the person who made the fake call.

“Something like this causes heightened tensions and is very dangerous,” Edwards said.

At least one other incident like this in another part of the country resulted in the death of an innocent person.

No one was reported injured in the Friday incident.