Armed police sent to reports of gunshots at a Southend-on-Sea home on Saturday arrived to discover the noise had come from a video game.
Firearms officers wearing balaclavas – including one wielding a chainsaw – were called at around 3.35pm with paramedics and an air ambulance after a member of the public reported gunshots and a shout of ‘I’ve been shot’ from a flat.
But responders, who were prepared to force entry into the home, found the noise came from a gamer playing Call of Duty and using powerful speakers.
The first-person shooter game, first released in 2003, simulates warfare, with some gameplay based on real-life military missions.
It is understood the 999 call reporting the unrest was made with genuine concern.
Essex Police said no firearms were involved and stood down but the Essex and Herts Air Ambulance had already arrived at the nearby Bournes Green Park to prepare for immediate medical evacuation if needed.
The force said it was called ‘with concerns a person may have been injured with a firearm’ and armed officers had ‘quickly attended the scene’.
But officers soon ‘confirmed no firearms were present and no one had sustained any injuries’.
Should police rethink how they respond to reports of gunshots in the age of realistic video games?
In August last year a 16-year-old boy was pinned to the floor by police after an imitation firearm sparked fears of a ‘mass shooter’ in the area.
But the Metropolitan Police later dismissed claims the boy was an ‘attempted mass shooter’ as claimed on social media and believed he may have been travelling to a nearby comic convention.
And in 2016 Surrey Police sent firearms officers to a cafe in southwest London after a passer-by reported seeing guns inside.
The three gun-wielding officers arrived to discover Hussar’s Coffee House in Hampton Wick was being used as a film set.
Essex Police used its armed response unit for around 14,000 incidents last year – those officers arrested 336 people.
But the unit has not shot in public for more than a decade, since a suspect was hit in the leg and arrested in 2015.
That was the first such case for more than 30 years.
