ORANGE PARK, Fla. – Clay County deputies and a SWAT team spent several hours early Friday morning in an Eagle Landing neighborhood after the Orange Park Police Department received a call about a violent incident in a home and hostages may inside.
According to the 911 call, the caller said he had a bomb strapped to his chest and demanded money.
“I want $30,000, otherwise I’m going to blow up the hostages and the entire building with by bombs. OK?” the caller told a dispatcher. “Give me money in Bitcoin.”
Some neighbors on Harbour Town Drive, just west of the First Coast Expressway, said they were told to evacuate their homes and others said they heard a deputy on a bullhorn asking someone in the house to come out with their hands up.
“Please step out of your home with your hands above your head. This is the Clay County Sheriff’s Office."
The scene cleared about 11 a.m. after deputies said they found no one was inside the home and they were not looking for anyone.
“It appears at this time the call concerning this incident was a prank,” deputies said in a release Friday afternoon. “There is no threat to the neighborhood and no ongoing investigation into any criminal activity at the home we responded to today.”
Neighbors were shaken up.
“He told my husband there was a hostage situation and that it would be best for us to evacuate,” Cathy Hirsch said. “I was asleep. My husband woke me up. We threw on our clothes and left as quickly as we could.”
Within three hours, it was over. The SWAT team and their equipment packed up and left.
The Sheriff’s Office said it will investigate the origins of the call.