People wearing Halloween masks banged on a family’s door in Alexandria and said they would break in and kill the residents. Police investigated the case as an attempted burglary – and learned relatives were responsible and had been filming what they called a prank.

The prank “could have been deadly,” Alexandria’s police chief said in an update Monday. When a victim called her brother for help before calling police, he arrived with a gun.

A terrified woman called 911 the night of Oct. 14 after people in unsettling costumes tugged on the doorknob, said they were her “worst nightmare” and threatened, “If you do not come out, we will come in.”

Several police officers dedicated over 100 hours to the investigation, Chief of Police Tarrick McGuire said. After a police news conference on Oct.

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