Mom’s April fools prank goes wrong after she fakes being shot in Kansas

‘April Fools’ can be a good, funny little joke in some circumstances,’ say police after forcing entry into home of 58-year-old

The street in Wichita, Texas, where police officers responded to a prank call on Thursday (Google Maps)

An April fools prank went wrong after a mother from Kansas told her daughter she had been shot, and police forced entry into her home.

The mother, 58-year-old Arnthia Willis, was arrested following the incident on Thursday in the city of Derby, Kansas, according to The Wichita Eagle.

Ms Willis allegedly told her daughter on the phone that she had been shot, causing the daughter to hang-up and phone 911 about a shooting.

When police arrived at Ms Willis’s address in Wichita, Kansas, they could not find anyone at the home and so forced entry.

Wichita Police Department (WPD) lieutenant Ronald Hunt said to reporters at the scene that up to 20 officers responded to the call, and that the prank was “very dangerous”.

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“Multiple police units, probably between 15 — 20 officers from the WPD as well as fire department and EMS responded to the scene,” said Lt. Hunt.

Nobody was found at the property at the time, with Ms Willis still at work in the city of Derby, according to the Eagle, where she was arrested by Derby County officers.

“Through further investigation, we learned that this was an April Fools’ joke played on the daughter by the mother,” the lieutenant added.

“April Fools’ can be a good, funny little joke in some circumstances” but when it leads to a police response “it’s not funny any more,” he said. “This is a situation that is very dangerous”.

The lieutenant added that the prank by Ms Willis could be classed as a “swatting call”, in which first responders are dispatched to a specific location following a prank, often leading to arrests.

He said in this case, “that is going to be up to maybe the district attorney.” Ms Willis, according to the Eagle, was afterwards charged with suspicion of unlawful request for emergency service assistance.