An American gamer has filmed the moment a heavily armed SWAT unit burst into his home and ‘swatted’ him while he was playing an online shooting game.

Jordan Mathewson, who uses the online moniker ‘Kootra’, said although he knew the SWAT team’s arrival yesterday was the result of a prank he was still frightened by the experience.

‘Swatting’ is a prank when rival gamers report gunshots and screams at particular addresses, eliciting a fully armed and often immediate response from nearby law officials.

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Mr Matthewson, who is well known by the online gaming community with more than 200,000 twitter followers and over 700,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel, was live streaming his game when the SWAT team arrived at The Creatures LLC offices in Littleton, Colorado.

“Uh-oh, this isn’t good,” he says, smiling nervously. “They are clearing rooms. What in the world? I think we’re getting swatted.”

Moments later the heavily armed response unit bursts into the room, forcing Mr Matthewson to the ground with his arms behind his back.

One of the officers asks: “Do you think this is funny?”

Afterwards, speaking to ABC news, Mr Mattewson said: “I’ve heard people say that I appear to be amused, but I really didn’t have any control over myself at the time”.

“I was just terrified and I really didn’t know what was going through my head.”

The prank was set up by an anonymous caller, who claimed Mr Matthewson had shot two co-workers and was holding others hostage at gunpoint.

In a statement Denver police said: “Fortunately there were no injuries today, but a massive law enforcement response wastes resources and greatly increases the chances of innocent people being injured or killed.

If the investigation determines that today’s incident was a hoax, those involved will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

According to 7NEWS sources, an individual was brought in for questioning but has now been released.