Officers with the Chicago police department broke into a home with a battering ram and sledgehammer to bust an occupant for purportedly possessing ecstasy, reports local news outlet CBS Chicago. But as it turns out, their suspect had not lived there for 5 years, according to current occupants.

The family was celebrating a 4-year-olds birthday. “They were saying F words and stuff,” 7-year-old Samari Boswell, whose little brother’s party it was, said. “It was horrible.”

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The family’s lawyer says the traumatizing experience resulted from police using bad warrants. He says it’s the fourth such case that he has handled, where cops burst into the wrong homes and pointed guns at innocent people, including kids.

“Then you see guns, you see guns pointing at us and it was like terrifying,” Kiqiana Jackson, who was also at the party, said.

The kids were playing “Duck, Duck, Goose.” Seconds later, officers were pointing their weapons at them.

“I thought they was going to shoot me, and my brother, and everybody else,” Samari told CBS.

The Chicago Police Department issued the following statement:

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In all cases, CPD makes every effort to ensure the validity and accuracy of all information that is used to apply for and execute search warrants. Oftentimes this information comes from community sources and despite the vetting of material through a criminal court and the methodical process to authenticate addresses, errors can occur and we take them very seriously.

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