Rick Scott is latest politician to report his home was swatted
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said Thursday his Naples home was swatted.
On Christmas Day, and subsequently, swatting incidents have been reported at the homes of elected officials around the country. Most, but not all, of this week’s victims were Republicans.
Scott and his wife, Ann, apparently weren’t home Wednesday night when he was targeted.
The senator wrote Thursday on social media that “last night, while at dinner with my wife, cowards ‘swatted’ my home in Naples. These criminals wasted the time & resources of our law enforcement in a sick attempt to terrorize my family.”
The Naples Daily News and WINK-Ch. 11 in Fort Myers reported that the police said a call reporting a shooting was received at about 9 p.m. Wednesday.
Swatting involves making a false emergency call, often reporting a shooting or a hostage taking, with the aim of generating an armed police response, possibly including a SWAT team, to a home. The victim doesn’t know what’s going on, including why police arrive with guns drawn.
NBC News reported that swatting is increasingly enabled by technology that can be used to mask a caller’s real voice, their phone number or IP address.
It’s happened to a range of victims. In the online gaming world, some players have swatted others so they could watch the police response at the victim’s home play out live.
ADL, formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League, reported on its website that the number of incidents of swatting exceeded 1,000 in 2019, compared to 400 cases in 2011.
This week, it’s happened several times to political figures.
WCMH-Ch. 4 in Columbus, Ohio, the state capital, reported that at least four current or former Republican state lawmakers were swatted on Tuesday.
The four whose homes were targeted were supporters of an Ohio law that created the felony offense of swatting.
State Rep. Kevin Miller, R-Ohio, said he heard sirens in the afternoon “and they started getting louder and louder.” He said he went outside and saw a police officer blocking the road. Ultimately, he said, more than 10 police officers showed up at his house, under the pretense of a shooting situation, WCMH reported.
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said she was the attempted target of a swatting on Christmas morning.
The Rome, Ga., police department quickly determined that the call was a hoax and did not send officers to the house, a spokesperson told the Associated Press.
U.S. Rep. Brandon Williams, R-N.Y., said on social media that he was targeted by a swatting attempt on Christmas Day, the Associated Press reported. The Cayuga County Sheriff’s office said it received a false report of a shooting at the congressman’s home in central New York and sent officers to confirm that there was no present danger.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, a Democrat, was also swatted on Christmas Day, with a caller reporting a shooter at her home, the Boston Herald reported.
Scott, in his social media post, thanked both the Naples Police Department and the Collier County Sheriff’s office “for all they do to keep us safe.”