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Brown Deer woman says she's victim of 'Swatting' prank

Posted at 11:13 PM, Aug 17, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-18 00:35:30-04

BROWN DEER -- Brown Deer police are looking for a person who may have called in a fake emergency.

It happened Wednesday afternoon near 60th and Brown Deer.  TODAY'S TMJ4's Katie Crowther spoke with a woman and her grandkids who say they were yanked out of their home at gun point.

They thought all the commotion must be for a neighbor, but then they realized dozens of SWAT team officers were pointing their guns at their house. They say it was all a prank, and that it hurts.

"We were frightened, we were really, really frightened."

Carol Dumas says Brown Deer Police got a call from a man with her husband's name, who was in her house and going to detonate a bomb, and that his parents were locked in the bathroom, and he was going to kill them.

But Carol's husband has been dead for eight years. She lives in the home with her grandchildren. All of them were ordered to come out of the house with their hands up. She was barefoot, and holding her grandbabies.

Their house was searched for two hours, and her oldest grandchild was questioned by police. 

"They put him on the ground, put him in handcuffs, and then took him to a squad until they investigated everything and they took him to the police station to go over the tape that they had, and it was obvious it was not him, because it was an older voice. Not a young voice," Dumas said.

Brown Deer Police are now investigating where that call came from. They apologized to Carol and her family for the scare, but say that in that case, they were working to keep everyone safe.