SWAT team and choppers scramble to teen's home after prankster says he's killed his mother

A 60-strong SWAT team swooped on a teenager's family home in the US after a gamer he had just beaten online made a prank call to police.

SWAT team and choppers scramble to teen's home after prankster says he's killed his mother

A 60-strong SWAT team swooped on a teenager's family home in the US after a gamer he had just beaten online made a prank call to police.

Helicopters, emergency vehicles and police raced to the home of 17-year-old Rafael Castillo, after receiving reports of a bloody rampage at the house.

The prank caller told police he was Rafael, that he had killed his mother (the real Rafael's mum was in the kitchen when police arrived), and that he might kill more, in a dangerous example of so-called "swatting".

The prankster had just been beaten by Rafael in an online Call Of Duty battle.

Once he made the hoax call to police, giving Rafael's address, police scrambled choppers over the house and rushed in more than 60 armed officers, including elite members of Nassau County’s special operations unit. Fire trucks also raced to the scene.

Rafael's brother Jose arrived home for lunch in the midst of the two-hour standoff.

He told the New York Post that one of the police officers said somebody called and said that the mother and brother of somebody in this house was killed.

"I said, ‘How is that possible if she’s right there and I’m right here?’ said Jose, 21.

Officers tried for 20 minutes to get Rafael to come out, but the dedicated gamer had headphones on and was still playing.

“He didn’t realize anything was going on, he couldn’t hear anything,” Jose told the Post. “I told him that there’s a bunch of cops outside that are looking for you.”

Police say the angry opponent probably traced Rafael's IP address online to find out where he lived.

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