Tisbury police say reports of an active shooter in downtown Vineyard Haven Wednesday were part of a “swatting” hoax. 

Police responded to a building on Beach Street around 11:30 a.m. after the Dukes County regional communications center received a call from a worker at a crisis hotline saying there was a possible shooter. 

In a statement Wednesday, Tisbury police said the hotline received a message that a 26-year-old man had killed his father and was pointing a gun at his mother. 

After clearing the public from the area, police said they went to the building and found the call was fake. 

“No one reported hearing anything that sounded like gunshots or any other commotion,” police wrote in the statement. 

Police withheld the address for privacy reasons and said these types of fake calls, which can draw a large police response, have become more frequent and happen across the country. 

Tisbury police Lt. William Brigham said the original report came via text to an out-of-state crisis center, making it difficult to find out the origin of the hoax. 

“Tracking it down is next to impossible,” he said.