‘I just shot my mom in the head’: Chilling swatting call targets Myrtle Beach man’s home

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) - Swatting calls are happening across the nation, and also in Myrtle Beach, but how some law enforcement agencies are responding to the chilling calls has left some surprised.

In a most recent case, a 911 call was made back in January to Myrtle Beach police dispatch where a man claimed that he was on meth and had shot his mother.

“I’ve been smoking meth and my stepdad has a Glock 19 in the safe, and I grabbed it, my mom started yelling at me for smoking meth and I grabbed the gun and shot her in the back of the head three times,” the caller said.

The caller also threatened to shoot himself and the police, and gunfire was heard in the background before the caller hung up.

But it all turned out to be a swatting call.

“Swatting is when an individual or group generates an emergency law enforcement response against a target victim under false pretenses. Many come in the form of a bomb threat, active shooter, or other extreme event,” according to the Myrtle Beach Police Department.

According to a police report, the caller used Text Now, which is an app that is commonly used to make false calls to police non-emergency lines. It’s how police determined it was a swatting call.

While the 911 call was fake, the address that the caller gave was not.

The caller said he was inside an apartment on Tindal Street, which is just off 62nd Avenue North, which is owned by Matt Davis.

Davis was not at home at the time and thought he would come home to a door that was broken down by police officers, but that wasn’t the case.

“I said, ‘Should I expect you guys to be breaking in?’ and he goes, ‘No... actually, not only do we send one person out to do something like this, but the person that actually initiated the call said he wasn’t really sure if they knew they had the right apartment” Davis explained.

WMBF News asked the Myrtle Beach Police Department if more than one officer should have responded to the home based on what was said during the 911 call. The department declined to comment, stating they’re worried swatting calls would rise if they did.

Seth Stoughton, a criminal justice law professor with the University of South Carolina, agreed with the Myrtle Beach Police Department’s stance.

“If they popularize the idea that they respond to false complaints, then it may promote more people to make false complaints,” Stoughton explained.

He added that how officers respond depends on the case and the information they receive.

“There’s this really fine balance. These agencies are in a very difficult position of having to assess the accuracy of very limited, incomplete information, in a way that doesn’t lead to under-respond or over-respond,” Stoughton said.

While the Myrtle Beach Police Department would not comment on its response to swatting situations, it did release this statement:

“Swatting calls cause us great concern for several reasons. They are disruptive to daily routines, are dangerous for our residents and visitors as well as our officers, and they have been used to ambush or misdirect law enforcement resources. The Myrtle Beach Police Department is committed to working with our community members as well as our federal, state, and local partners to identify those responsible and hold them accountable for their actions.”

Myrtle Beach police said it has responded to five swatting calls since 2022. Horry County police said it does not track how many swatting calls it department receives.

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