Niles police are wondering if their department was the target of so-called “swatting”, where someone makes a phony emergency call to tie up police operations.

Officers from two shifts converged on the Eastwood Mall Complex Sunday afternoon after a dispatcher took an anonymous call from a man claiming there was a person with a gun at the mall.

Although vague when answering most of the dispatcher’s questions, the caller claimed that a white, long-haired man, wearing black pants walked through the entrance near JC Penney carrying a guitar case containing an AR15 rifle.

The caller, who said his name was Jason Roberts, said the suspect was driving a black SUV.

Police from the day and afternoon shifts checked inside the mall and parking lots but didn’t find anyone matching the description of the alleged suspect.

Mall employees told police they hadn’t seen anyone fitting the description. A mall security guard told police someone called the mall that afternoon  threatening to “shoot up the mall.”

 According to the police report, investigators aren’t sure if the number used to call them is even a real number.

The report speculates that the incident could have been a “swatting” call, or an attempt to find out how police would respond to such an incident.

Detectives are still trying to find out who was behind the apparent hoax.