WARWICK, R.I. (WJAR) — Residents of a Warwick Neck neighborhood were told to shelter in place Saturday as officers responded to calls of an active shooter in a house on Cliff Road.
In the end, it was determined to have been a swatting call… a hoax triggering an emergency response when there is no actual threat. It’s the second in Rhode Island in the past two days.
Toady’s hit a neighborhood with children at nearly every house – neighbors saying that for more than an hour armed officers invaded backyards and barricaded the road in search of a potential threat.
It was just before 3 o’clock that Warwick police say they received a call of shots fired within a home. The caller claimed one person had been struck and another was being held hostage.
More than a dozen armed officers were deployed to canvas the neighborhood, warning all residents to remain within their homes.
Warwick police say they determined that initial calls came from a voice-over internet number, and that in fact no one was hurt, no shots fired and there was no threat to the public.
The incident marks the second swatting call to be recorded in the Ocean State within the past 48 hours.
On Friday, North Kingstown Police responded to another “false alarm” on Winsome Drive.
And while in the end, everyone was ok, families we spoke with today say the incident was so upsetting, that when everything concluded officers stopped by some of homes with small children to bring them stickers and reassure them that everything was okay.
