POLK COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — On Thursday, News Channel 8 brought you a story about two out-of-state teens arrested for prank calling 911.

On Friday, the family of one of those teens shared their side to the story.

They don’t deny their brother made that call but still don’t believe he should be locked up.

We are not naming the teen nor his family because of age.

“It’s very devastating,” the sister said. “I’ve never seen my brother in the shape that he’s in now.”

The last time this pair of sisters saw their 15-year-old brother was at a juvenile detention center in Hartford, Connecticut.

Since then, he has been extradited to Florida.

“He cried in my arms like it was devastating,” the sister said.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said three teens were playing Fortnite online when they started arguing.

The sheriff said it went downhill from there when the teens called to report a crime that never happened.

“Usually, teenagers online and they’re playing games, and one gets mad at the other, or one gets mad because he lost the game to someone, looks up his address, and then he calls the local police department or sheriff’s office,” he said.

But the teen’s family says that isn’t the case.

They claim someone online threatened their brother into making the call saying, if he didn’t, private information about their family would be posted online.

But when that teen was threatened a second time, his sisters say he refused, so someone swatted their home a few days later.

East Hartford police confirmed they responded to the home and determined it was a fake 911 call.

Now, the teen faces felony charges in Polk County.

“I feel that he’s trying to like, he’s being used as an example to other individuals that may think about swatting or think that swatting is cool, but he is not the person to be using as an example, because he was manipulated as well,” the sister said.

So what is it that makes people online feel so daring?

News Channel 8 went to Tampa Bay gamer Phillip Moss to find out.

“Anonymity is a big thing, like I’m never going to see that person online that I just talked all this mad crazy things about me and I’m never going to see them,” Moss explained.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said, if the family’s statements are true, it’s something their local law enforcement should look into.

The 15-year-old’s next court date is next Friday.

A 14-year-old from Syracuse, New York was also extradited and charged in the case.