Crime & Safety

UPDATE: 'Swatting' 911 Call Closes Laurel Canyon

A man with a gun may have barricaded himself inside a home, police say.

By City News Service

A phone call alleging an armed standoff in the Hollywood Hills is being investigated as a potential swatting incident, police said today.

Police received a call around 7:15 p.m. Wednesday claiming that an armed man "suffering from possible mental health issues" had barricaded himself inside a residence in the 8100 block of Willow Glen Road in the Hollywood Hills, said Sgt. Robert Ward of the Los Angeles Police Department's Hollywood Station.

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"The totality of the circumstances led them to believe it was a potential swatting incident," Ward said of Hollywood station detectives.

"Swatting" is the act of making a hoax call to authorities, alleging a false crime situation requiring a high-profile police response. Authorities have said the act has evolved over the past 10 years to become directed at celebrities who live in Los Angeles.

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Ward said the call alleging the standoff was made from a cell phone.

Both north and southbound lanes of nearby Laurel Canyon Boulevard were closed for about three hours as the call was being investigated.

Ward said police eventually established that the residence they had been directed to on Willow Glen was unoccupied. He said he could not confirm if the owner of the residence had been contacted but said police know his identity.

He described the owner of the private address as "not a common name that you would recognize immediately."


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