A family on Long Island has been anticipating another knock on the door from police officers because they say someone has been harassing them by making 911 calls to their home --- and it all could be tied to a video game fight.
"We live, waiting for the police to knock on our door every day, every night," Lydia de Farias told NBC New York. She says police have shown up to her Hicksville home six separate times since last fall. The first time it happened, the caller told police “my husband killed my son, please hurry.” Then someone told police that their 18-year-old son, Andrew, brought a bomb to Hicksville High.
The harassment tactic is called "swatting" and emergency dispatchers are often notified by prank callers of a life-and-death situation occurring at a particular address. The family says they believe that the calls are possibly related to an online gaming fight involving Andrew.
Pericles De Farias says police pointed guns at him because they thought he was dangerous based on the phone call. Every time officers showed up, they searched the home to determine that the call was unfounded. The latest incident occurred just last week on May 10 around 1 a.m. Hours later, police responded again.
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"We don't wanna hurt anybody we just want this thing to stop. We just want peace," Percicles de Farias said.
At least one call was relatively harmless. The family said someone ordered 17 pizzas to their house at 10 p.m. and they had to send the food back, but the family says they're afraid things will escalate. The family believes the same culprit hacked their home computers and renamed their wi-fi "Austin was here."
On April 18, the family says someone came to their home and threw a large rock through a window. A security camera was able to capture images of the suspect but it's unclear if the incident is related to the swatting calls.
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The de Fariases say they're desperate because police can't seem to find the person who's making the calls. Percicles claimed the detectives told him that, "we don’t have million-dollar equipment to be able to find who is responsible.”
Police confirmed they responded to the Hicksville home six times in six months, but there have been no leads or arrests at this time. They declined to comment, saying that it's an ongoing investigation.
