By Roger Lanse

According to a Grant County Regional Dispatch Authority blotter, a Silver City Police Department officer responded to 204 W. Broadway on Thursday, Apr. 3, 2025, at about 2:17 p.m. to a suspicious activity call. According to the GCRDA blotter, a male caller stated their father is a drug dealer and caller and his brother are in fear for their life. Caller also told the dispatcher that he and his brother are being held hostage in a white trailer in front of the Little Toad, and his dad has an Uzi and a meth lab.

Additionally, caller advised the GCRDA dispatcher, that the brother inhaled meth and isn't feeling well, the brother isn't breathing, and that the trailer is locked from the outside and they can't get out.

Dispatcher said that caller is talking with an accent and laughing on the phone saying they called because they really like jokes. Caller then told the dispatcher, "He is gonna shoot the cop," and advising he has a bazooka. Dispatcher said both subjects had a foreign accent.

At approximately 2: 35 p.m. the responding officer advised to clear the call.

According to the responding officer, the unidentified perpetrators were able to access Silver City's City Hall livestream camera from a Florida phone number before calling GCRDA, but it is not known the actual location the perps called from. The pranksters then watched the responding officer arrive at the scene, and inspect the white camping trailer, all the while making threats to shoot him.

Once SCPD realized the pranksters were viewing their entire fake incident through the City Hall Camera that camera was taken offline for the day. The camera has since been re-activated.

The SCPD officer told the Beat the tricksters also stated to the GCRDA dispatcher their dad was Walter White, an actor on the TV series Breaking Bad.

This is not the first time the City Hall camera has been used by jokers to mislead law enforcement, the officer stated.