Groton — Town police closed a portion of Hazelnut Hill Road Wednesday afternoon and warned residents to stay in their homes in response to reports of a family being held against their will. 

As it turns out, police found no such incident taking place and are looking into the possibility the call was a hoax, or "swatting" incident.

Swatting is a term used for hoax calls, sometimes made over the Internet, that are made purposely to elicit an emergency response to a certain address and could include the deployment of a SWAT team.

Multiple police officers responded to Wednesday's incident though it appears Groton Town Police were able to call off a state police tactical team before it had responded.

Responding officers established a perimeter and neighbors said they had received a reverse 911 call from police with a message asking them to stay inside their homes.

Shortly after the response, police said, the family emerged from their home and were unaware of any incident.

Police accounted for all of the occupants and ensured they were safe.

Officers on scene checked and cleared the residence, and surrounding property.