Swatting call to Dover home under investigation
DOVER (WJER ) (Aug. 29, 2025) – A Thursday evening police call about a shooting at a Dover home turned out to be fake.
Detective Captain Chad Mowrer described it as a swatting call, a prank where someone calls 9-1-1 and makes up a story to get police to show up at someone else’s home or business.
“The Dover Police Department received a call of distress, stating that someone had harmed someone else in a home located here on Front Street,” said Mowrer.
Police say the call came in just after 7 p.m. claiming multiple people inside the home had been injured.
Mowrer says the homeowner was actually at work and the Front Street house was empty. But authorities did not find that out until after Dover and New Philadelphia police, sheriff’s deputies and the county special response team blocked off the street and evacuated nearby residents.
For about two hours they surrounded the house with assault weapons drawn, repeatedly calling out the alleged suspect by name and telling him to come out with his hands up. Eventually the homeowner’s employer heard what was going on and told the man. They informed police.
When it was over, responders were happy it wasn’t a tragedy, but also angry.
“It is absolutely a relief. Due to the statements that were being made on the telephone call of people being harmed, it is absolutely a relief on our end that that no one in fact is harmed and that everyone was safe,” Mowrer said.
Officials said they will conduct a thorough investigation and share more information on Friday.
Swatting calls are now a fourth-degree felony in Ohio. Someone convicted of a fourth-degree felony can spend between six and 18 months in prison. If the swatting call results in someone being injured during the response, it is elevated to a second-degree felony.
