Katherine Clark, a U.S. representative from Massachusetts, has sponsored a bill that would make it a federal crime to call in a law enforcement agency because of a fake crime. This practice is known as swatting, and has apparently been used by some people in the online gaming community to silence criticism.
Now Clark has become the target of a swatting incident, and she believes it’s because of her sponsorship of this legislation.
According to the Boston Globe, Clark saw police lights “engulf” her home, while she and her husband watched TV. She went outside, and found cruisers blocking her street, while men with “long guns” stood on her lawn. The police told her they had received reports of “shots fired and an active shooter” at her house, as the local police spokesman described it.
Clark told the Globe that she’s thankful that the response prompted by the hoax didn’t actually turn violent. She also had a message for whoever made the fake call. “If that was the intent of calling in this event. I think they have underestimated my commitment to making sure that we do stop this practice,” she said, describing herself as even more determined to crack down on swatting.
(Via Boston Globe)