‘Swatting’ call brings LAPD to Rihanna’s Pacific Palisades home
In the second celebrity “swatting†incident in as many days, Los Angeles police responded to the home of singer Rihanna after a caller reported someone was shot inside her Pacific Palisades home.
Emergency dispatchers received the call shortly after 3 p.m. Thursday reporting that someone had been shot and wounded inside the singer’s home in the 900 block of Rivas Canyon Road, said LAPD Officer Bruce Borihahn.
Officers secured the location and quickly determined the call was a hoax. Rihanna, whose real name is Robyn Fenty, was not home when police responded to her home.
PHOTOS: Celebrity ‘swatting’ targets
The incident comes a day after someone contacted police saying there was an assault at Sean Combs’ Toluca Lake home. Combs also was not home at the time and police found no evidence of a crime.
No one was hurt in either case, but police said those who engage in swatting -- which gets its name from the large tactical response that can occur in such cases -- should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
The increasing number of such incidents targeting celebrities has California lawmakers considering implementing harsher penalties for such crimes.
Rihanna’s former boyfriend Chris Brown was also a recent victim of swatting, when someone contacted police and reported domestic violence and a possible shooting at the singer’s Hollywood Hills home.
Before that incident, a caller falsely reported shots fired at actor Tom Cruise‘s Beverly Hills home.
A 12-year-old boy was recently charged with making false threats about supposed incidents at the homes of Justin Bieber and actor Ashton Kutcher.
Other swatting targets over the last year include “The X Factor†judge Simon Cowell, singer Miley Cyrus and the Kardashian-Jenner family.
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