A Saint Joseph teenager playing an online game got “swatted” Monday night, triggering a Special Response Team action in the South End. Officers surrounded a house in the 200 block of Michigan after a call that an intruder shot a man and woman and was inside the house. Sergeant Brett Kelly says it turned out there was no intruder and no one had been shot.

The teenager told police an out-of-state opponent in an online game had threatened to “swat” him, and apparently did.

“Swatting” involves filing a false report that causes a SWAT or SRT to respond to a location. This type of dangerous hoax has occurred in other places around the country, is against the law, and is roundly condemned by law enforcement officials.

In the Saint Joseph incident there were no injuries and no arrests.