On February 22, Gorham police received an anonymous 911 call over the internet reporting a shooting at 32 Maple Drive in Friendly Village. Numerous police and fire vehicles responded to the scene after they were unable to reach anyone at that address by phone.

Neighbors were warned to shelter in place and the resident, Betsy Lafond, was briefly handcuffed and restrained. The entire incident lasted about an hour, and to date, police have not been able to determine who made the initial call to 911.

This type of call is known as “swatting” and it is very difficult to track down the person making the call. Lafond will be listening to the 911 tape to see if she recognizes the voice of the person making the call.

Deputy Chief Michael Nault commented that while there are ways in which technology is very helpful to police departments, anonymous calls over the internet to 911 are very difficult to trace.