Cedar Rapids police are investigating a case of "swatting" after a late-night call of a possible homicide resulted in a large police response.

Swatting is when someone calls 9-1-1 to report a crime in progress, like an active shooting, with a disguised number but there is no crime being committed.

Cedar Rapids Police tell KCRG-TV9 around 11:30 Monday night they received a call reporting a shooting and possible homicide. The call appeared to originate from a home in the 1700 block of Wolf River Lane northwest. The person on the phone claimed to be barricaded inside the home.

Cedar Rapids police say this incident was the first documented incident of swatting to happen in the city since at least 2015.

Cases of swatting have been happening across the county for years. It is unclear what motivated this latest event but former FBI special agent Kevin Kolbye, who has investigated swatting related crimes before, told TV9 the victims in these cases have usually never met the perpetrator in person before.

"A lot of times it is done in revenge, retaliation, or just as a prank to someone that they met online and they'll call a SWAT incident at that time," Kolybe said.

Cedar Falls Police said they, too, are in the process of investigating a case of swatting from last week. In that case, someone reported that a person was shot inside a home and that the shooter would attack any officer who approached the home.

Like in the case of Cedar Rapids, police in Cedar Falls said they are still working to find out who is the responsible party. The case of swatting they are looking into is the first time an incident like that has happened there.

"On a local perspective, we don't always have the expertise to be identifying individuals that are using that type of technology and a lot of times it takes the federal law enforcement to become aware of that and to actually use the tools and skill that they have," Kolbye said.

Cedar Falls police said they have been in touch with the FBI about their investigation. Cedar Rapids police would not say if they are working with any federal agency at this time.

Police said someone who commits an act of swatting could face charges that include harassment and filing a false police report. That is in addition to a litany of potential federal charges should an agency like the FBI get involved.