Teen behind 'Damn, Daniel' viral video now target of 911 'swatting' prank

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (FOX 11) - From Zohreen Adamjee:

The "Damn Daniel" viral video has been shared more than 300 thousand times on Twitter. It's a video of high schooler Josh Holtz jokingly admiring his buddy Daniel Lara.

It's so catchy, after Holtz posted it a week ago, all the kids are saying, "Damn Daniel." Even the Lakers are catching on.

But the viral video took a dark turn Tuesday morning.

Riverside Police got a call around 1 a.m. alerting them of a murder at Holtz's home.

They believe the caller was trying to conceal his voice, saying he shot his mom in the head with an AK-47 and threatened to shoot police too.

SWAT arrived at the home only to discover the call was a hoax.

Police say the family has been getting many prank calls since Damn Daniel went viral.

"They're very surprised. They didn't expect the negative aspect of this posting but they're very concerned with what happened tonight," said Lt. Christian Dinco.

Students say teachers are trying to turn the SWAT incident into a teaching opportunity.

"She's [the teacher] basically saying that this video is really popular and popularity can have consequences as well as good ones. And this one turned out to have a bad consequence and hopefully whoever called the cops is found," said Troi Feinberg, the senior class president at Riverside Polytechnic High School.

From Sandra Endo:

All it took was one post on Twitter for a new internet meme to be born. But there's also backlash with new found fame.

Two Riverside Polytechnical High school students Josh Holz and Daniel Lara posted a video on Twitter February 15 and it's already garnered more than 300 thousand views. Now, the saying "Damn, Daniel" is going viral.

Holz is getting some unwanted attention. Riverside police responded in full force at around 130 Tuesday morning after they received a call about a murder at the Holz home.

Lt. Christian Dinco said "we take these calls seriously and it came in saying someone killed their mother with an AK 47. But it turned out to be erroneous".

He adds "the family says they've been getting more prank calls since that video went viral so it could be due to that."

Police say a hoax call is a crime and they vow to catch the prankster.

Nobody at the home would come out to talk to FOX 11.