'Swatting hoax': Police swarm North Carolina YouTube streamer's home

LOCUST, N.C. (WGHP) -- A Stanly County gamer fell victim to “swatting,” which is a term to describe when pranksters call police on an innocent person, WSOC reports.

Authorities got an anonymous phone call from someone who said Ernest Morton had killed his wife and was preparing to do the same to his children.

Morton, of Locust, was playing a video game, which was streaming live on YouTube, on Monday night when he was interrupted by a phone call.

The Locust Police Department and two other law enforcement agencies responded to Morton's quiet home after they got the “tip.”

Still on the phone, Morton walked outside to be confronted by law enforcement officers from three agencies. Morton had been "swatted."

"I thought I was going to die,” Morton said.

"Swatting" is a dangerous phenomenon in which a caller reports a false emergency in order to draw a large police response -- a SWAT team, for instance -- to another person's address.