A controversial Phoenix pastor says that he's the victim of swatting, that is when someone
calls the police about a major crime at a house or a business, but the whole thing is
fake.
It's meant to terrify victims with an overwhelming police presence descending on their home.
Phoenix police were called to Pastor Steven Anderson's home after a 911 call reporting
multiple bodies.
Pastor Anderson leads the Faithful Word Baptist Church, which is an ultra-conservative church
that's made controversial headlines more than a few times.
Team 12's William Pitts explains how this prank could have ended deadly.
Let's get this out of the way.
You probably don't agree with Steven Anderson.
You might not even like him, but this was not a prank.
Regardless of what he may say or preach, this could have ended with his family being shot
by police.
The kids were pointing at a helicopter up in the sky, they were talking about a helicopter.
They're saying, come out with your hands up, and of course, my wife couldn't have fathomed
that they could be talking to her and our kids.
But they were.
Phoenix police said they got a call of a possible shooting at the Anderson's home in Awatukee
on Sunday.
There's knocking and knocking at my door.
Finally, I hear a voice that says, Steve, this is the police, the Phoenix police.
I thought it was my son joking.
There was no shooting.
Anderson believes he was swatted.
That's when someone calls in a 911 call to someone's house, trying to get the cops to
show up.
It's even led to police shooting innocent people.
Now, usually we would ask, do you have any enemies who could have done this?
In Anderson's case, he's made a lot of enemies.
All homos are pedophiles.
There, I said it.
Anderson's church is listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
No homos will ever be allowed on this church as long as I'm the pastor here.
He preaches against homosexuality.
Their blood shall be upon them.
And that, my friend, is the cure for AIDS.
And once delivered a sermon calling for former President Obama to die.
His church was the site of a protest a few years ago when his sermons went viral.
We are deeply disturbed by Pastor Anderson's bigotry.
God is about love and tolerance and acceptance.
We together absolutely reject this message of hate and violence.
Plenty of people like our church, too.
I don't consider myself an extreme guy.
I'm just preaching the Bible.
Anderson has been accused of crossing the line many times since he started his church.
But he says the swatting call crossed his line.
Here's what I would respond is, is there any possible situation where this would have been
the right thing to do to call in this kind of thing?
No matter what people think about me as a person.
Phoenix police say it is a crime to call in a swatting call.
But it's the same as false reporting.
It's a misdemeanor on the first offense.
William Pitts, 12 News.
All right.
Well, thank you.
And this isn't the first swatting hoax in the Valley.
Almost a year ago to the day, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office swarmed a home in
Fountain Hills.
Dispatchers got a call from a man claiming that he had shot his teenage daughter.
The scare sent nearby schools into lockdown and drew a large law enforcement response.
But when deputies arrived, they found no one inside the home.
The person the caller claimed to be, the former homeowner, was found in Scottsdale.
Deputies say that he had nothing to do with the call.
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office says that the police response cost taxpayers more
than $10,000.
In the end, it was just a fabricated call.
It was extremely frustrating.
I'm sad that it wasted a lot of people's time and they could have been doing something else.
Investigators say the people responsible for fake calls like this could even be charged
with a felony.