Nova Scotia RCMP are investigating an alleged swatting incident after an unfounded complaint of an armed man in a mask at the Antigonish Market Square forced the mall into lockdown.
In a tweet Thursday morning, the RCMP said officers in Antigonish received two 911 calls at 9:42 a.m. about an armed man in a mask at the mall.
“Mall was placed on lockdown and numerous RCMP officers attended immediately. The mall was cleared and no armed person was found,” the tweet said.
“No one at the mall saw an armed person and no armed persons were seen on video surveillance,” the RCMP said, adding that the calls originated from other areas of Antigonish and not the mall.
“This complaint is unfounded and is the result of swatting. The lockdown has been lifted.”
Swatting is when someone makes a fake 911 call in order to generate an emergency response, often from police, RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Chris Marshall said in an interview.
While some swatting incidents are targeted toward a specific person, Marshall said nobody in particular was targeted, just that there was a report of a masked and armed person at the mall.
He said nine police vehicles responded to the incident, meaning between nine and 18 police officers were at the scene.
“We just took … police officers away from other investigations and other duties to go and investigate this prank call. We had to place an entire mall on lockdown,” he said.
“It’s a significant drain of resources that could be better spent on investigating actual incidents that are occurring, as opposed to these prank incidents.”
Marshall said police are now trying to determine who made the 911 calls and what their intention was.
Making a false, frivolous or vexatious 911 call is an offence under the 911 Act, he said.
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