The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office responded to threats of a father being shot and his son being held hostage Tuesday, only to learn that a hacker had delivered the message.
The “swatting” incident, in which someone tries to trick law enforcement and emergency-response crews into responding, happened after 8:45 p.m., Lt. Greg Elwin said.
Deputies and fire crews responded to a home off Vail Cut-Off Road Southeast near Rainier to find a teenager playing a video game.
“He had no idea what was going on,” Elwin said.
The call to dispatch came from a representative from AT&T, who Elwin said had seen messages “of an alarming nature” coming from the Internet Protocol address at the home.
Someone remotely accessed the teen’s Xbox account and sent text messages, Elwin said, adding that he thinks the culprit could be an Xbox user from out of state.
The case has been handed to the county’s computer-forensics detective.
ckrotzer@theolympian.com
360-754-5476
theolympian.com/thisjustin
@chelseakrotzer
JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here
We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. ALL CAPS, spam, obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules. A thorough explanation of rules of conduct can be found in our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, including why your comment may not be showing immediately after you submit it, be sure to visit the commenting FAQ.