Police turned up unexpectedly at Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf’s home in Pennsylvania while he was live-streaming a game with friends on Saturday, the sports TV network said.

ESPN said Giersdorf was heard saying “I’ve been swatted,” before leaving the game to speak to his father, who answered the door to the police.

“Well that’s a new one,” it quoted Giersdorf as saying when he returned to the game about 10 minutes later. “They came in with guns, bro … That’s scary.”

A local police spokesman told ESPN the authorities had received an emergency call from someone claiming that Giersdorf had shot his father and tied his mother up in the garage.

Giersdorf earned the US$3 million top prize last month in the first Fortnite World Cup.

A man in Wichita, Kansas was shot dead in December 2017 by police who responded to a “swatting” call. A California man is serving 20 years in prison for making the call.