Deputies from the Broward County Sheriffs Office responded to the home of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student David Hogg on Tuesday morning after receiving a call about a hostage situation there.

The caller in what was later deemed a malicious prank claimed someone with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle had broken into the residence and was holding the family hostage.

SWAT units and a police helicopter responded to the home, which was empty, reports NBC Miami . So-called swatting calls are designed to send heavily armed law enforcement officers to the targets residence, wasting police resources and in some cases killing innocent people .

Hogg and his Parkland, Florida, Marjory Stoneman Douglas classmates have been targeted for harassment because of their advocacy for stricter gun control, a cause theyve championed since a gunman stormed their high school on Feb. 14 and killed 17 people .

Hogg dismissed Tuesday mornings harassment in an interview with Local 10 News .

I think its really a distraction from what were trying to fix here, he said. Which is the massive gun violence epidemic in this country.