New England’s Grand Island Casino received a swatting attempt and falsified bomb threat, sparking an investigation from local police.
On Sunday (January 11), the Grand Island Casino in New England received a call that claimed multiple bombs had been placed throughout the location. The casino reported this to the Grand Island Police Department, who discovered after an investigation that it was a swatting call.
Officers responded to the scene and found no explosive devices or firearms, although the location and surrounding facilities were cleared as a precaution. Together with casino security, the authorities determined the threat was false, with evidence from casino security video and on-site verification.
According to the police department’s report, investigators later determined that the anonymous caller used a third-party system to mimic another phone number.
“There is no active risk to the public,” reads the police statement. “The Grand Island Police Department takes all reported threats seriously and will continue to investigate incidents of swatting, which divert emergency resources and can place the public and first responders at risk. Anyone with information related to this incident is encouraged to contact the Grand Island Police Department.”
What is swatting?
Swatting refers to prank calls or reports of threats to a location, such as a fake bomb threat or report that there are dangerous or illicit materials at that location. The goal is to get police authorities or sometimes even a SWAT team to respond to that address, at the expense of whoever is living or working there.
The trend has been popular on live-streams, with people swatting streamers’ addresses while they’re live on stream, so they can watch as authorities raid the location.
In this case, the disruption was caused not only to the Grand Island Casino but also to the surrounding facilities that also needed to be cleared. This is the second report of a false bomb threat happening to a casino so far in 2026.
Featured image: Grand Island Casino
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