The FBI is assisting Long Island cops to find the gamer behind a hoax call that brought more than 70 heavily armed officers to the home of a teen who had just defeated him in an online game of Call of Duty.
Lieutenant Mark Stark of the Long Beach Police Department said the FBI has been an active part of the investigation.
A prank caller pretending to be Rafael Castillo, 18, of Long Beach, called the police Tuesday and said he killed his mother and brother. SWAT teams, hostage negotiators, ambulance and dozens of police officers surrounded Castillo’s home on Laurelton Boulevard.
When cops arrived at the home, Castillo’s mother was in the kitchen and Rafael’s brother had just arrived home from lunch.
“I thought there was a fire at my house. I ran up and saw my mom running out. I didn’t know what was going on,” said the brother, Jose, 21.
One of the police officers told him that they received a call that the mother and brother of the people who lived in the house were killed, but he said that was impossible.
“How is that possible if she’s right there and I’m right here?” he asked.
Castillo did not come out right away because he had headphones in and was still immersed in his game – Call of Duty. Jose told the Post that one of the people playing Call of Duty with his brother threatened him.
“Some guy threatened to Swat him,” Jose said. “He was pissed that he had lost.”
Swatting, a new dangerous phenomena in the gaming world, is when a player gets points for the level of police presence, the type of entry and whether helicopters are called in.
Right now, the FBI is focused on figuring out who made the call and where that person could be.
“The investigation is ongoing,” said FBI spokesman Chris Sinos.
Police took Castillo’s Xbox as well as an iMac computer from their Long Beach home in hopes of finding clues that will lead them to nail down the IP address of the hoaxer. Stark said his department reached out to the Nassau County Police Department to use their forensic lab to analyze the electronic devices.
The caller could face multiple charges and may also be required to foot the bill for Tuesday’s police response, which is estimated at $100,000.
With reporting from Natalie O’Neill