Twenty-five police officers responded to a call from a woman Tuesday night saying she had just seen a man shot on the 2000 block of Lake Point Drive. They set up a perimeter and searched for the victim, suspects and witnesses. Other officers were sent to hospitals in search of a gunshot victim.

They didn’t find anything, because nobody was shot.

“It was a lie,” said MPD spokesperson Joel DeSpain.

Meanwhile, the woman who police say made the call – 27-year-old Tierra Miles of Madison – got away in her van after robbing a store in South Towne Mall.

Miles had been cited for retail theft at the mall 15 minutes before the 911 call by Monona police. Because she was intoxicated and had a suspended driver’s license, police told Miles she could not drive her van home from the mall parking lot.

When cops figured out that Miles had placed the illegitimate call to the police, MPD officers took down the perimeter and found the woman and her van at Miles’ residence on Magnolia Lane. Miles still insisted a man had been shot, saying her phone battery died before she could finish the 911 call, but with no victim, suspects or witnesses, police had to arrest Miles on charges of false emergency through a telephone, operating after suspension and operating an unregistered vehicle.

“False tips like this tie up resources for a short period of time,” DeSpain said. “But tips where a person makes up an entire crime can tie up lengthy periods of time investigating things that didn’t happen. People here have a lot on their plate, and these tips are unfortunate because there are real crime victims that need help.”