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ELKINS -- A "swatting" call Monday afternoon led to multiple law enforcement agencies investigating a possible shooting and suicide incident in Helvetia, an official said.
Randolph County Sheriff Rob Elbon released a statement Wednesday saying that, at approximately 2:16 p.m. Monday, the Sheriff's Office received a call from a man who said "he had shot his wife and son and attempted to commit suicide."
"Deputies from Randolph and Upshur County, West Virginia State Troopers from multiple counties, and West Virginia Natural Resources. Deputies arrived at the provided address," Elbon posted. "On this property was three cabin-style residences.
"Officers attempted to make contact with individuals occupying the residences with no success. Due to the nature of the call, officers deemed forced entry to be necessary for preservation of life. After clearing the residences, no person or evidence of a crime was observed.
"Through investigation conducted by the officers on scene and communication with the property owner, it was determined this call was a false reporting 'swatting' call," which is "a false reporting call placed to law enforcement officers to create an emergency response," Elbon wrote.
"This call put a lot of people in jeopardy, because we had multiple agencies responding to a very remote area in the county," Elbon told The Inter-Mountain Wednesday. "We all had to get there at a rapid pace, which with the way the roads are over in that area, made for an unsafe situation for all of the agencies responding. It's an extremely remote area, so we had very little radio communication and no cell phone coverage as well -- I couldn't talk to anybody."
Elbon said that, through the investigation it was determined that the call was a false reporting, or "swatting" call, which are sometimes made to distract law enforcement from an actual crime taking place.
"We had something like this happen back several years ago where we were responding to something and one of the bank's got hit," Elbon said. "At this point we are not sure why this call was made, but we had task force guys stay back and gear up in case something like the bank incident happened again."
Elbon said the Sheriff's Office is taking the "swatting" call very seriously and that this incident is still under investigation. To date, no arrests have been made.
"We are digging into it and continuing to investigate it," Elbon said. "We will use whatever resources necessary to check into it the best we can."