(CNN) The family of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student activist David Hogg was the victim of a "swatting" incident Tuesday morning.

A SWAT team responded to a call just after 8:30 a.m. of a barricaded subject at Hogg's residence. The caller said there was a person with a weapon inside of the home, Broward County Sheriff's spokesman Joy Oglesby told CNN.

The call was later determined to be a hoax.

No one was at home at the time of the incident, Oglesby said. Hogg and his family are in Washington D.C to accept the RFK Humanitarian Award.

Swatting is usually done by computer hackers, gamers or people skilled in online and smartphone communications as a prank. They make a false report of a serious crime in progress, resulting in police making a major show of force on innocent, unsuspecting people

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