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SWAT team sent to Lil Wayne’s Miami home in apparent hoax

Miami police find no signs of foul play, 'swatting' suspected.

 

Ramon Ramirez

Streaming

Posted on Mar 11, 2015   Updated on May 29, 2021, 8:08 am CDT

A SWAT team arrived at Lil Wayne‘s Miami home Wednesday afternoon after reports of gunshots and injuries. But despite a scan of Wayne’s property, the team found no signs of foul play following the hour-plus search. Miami police representative Ernesto Rodriguez has confirmed that the event was a hoax.

For his part, so has Lil Wayne.

A call was reported at 12:40pm ET wherein a man confessed to shooting four people. The Miami police said that “swatting,” the disturbing online trend of dialing police and sending over a SWAT team, is a distinct possibility.

Lil Wayne was reportedly in a music studio recording during the time of the alleged incident. However, a nearby construction worker did tell Miami’s Local 10 News that he heard gunshots.

Whether the hoax was a straightforward prank call or an intentional ploy to send over a SWAT team remains unclear. The practice is increasingly common between online gamers, but if this was an intentional “swatting,” Lil Wayne is the highest-profile celebrity to fall victim to the practice. 
Photo via Vincent Escuerdo/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

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*First Published: Mar 11, 2015, 10:37 pm CDT