An upscale Beverly Hills hotel has seemingly become a victim of the ‘swatting’ craze.
Police and an armed SWAT team were deployed to the Peninsular Beverly Hills Hotel after a call reporting a hostage situation in a room.
Police later deemed it to be a prank call.
Beverly Hills police said they received a call early Thursday from a man claiming he was being held against his will by an armed gang in a hotel room.
Hostage negotiators also responded to the scene and Santa Monica Boulevard where the hotel is situated was also closed off.
"There were men with guns in his hotel room and they weren’t letting him leave," said Capt. Lincoln Hoshino.
The bogus call is now being investigated as a ‘report of a false emergency,’ police said, adding that LA resident David Pearce was arrested on suspicion of making a false report of an emergency.
The FBI claims there are about 400 ‘swatting’ cases reported a year.
Early this year one incident turned deadly after an unarmed man was shot dead by Wichita police responding to a prank call.
The caller in that incident has been charged with manslaughter.
