Congresswoman Gwen Moore said she was a victim of swatting – a term used to describe a suspect misleading authorities to send police or an emergency service to a person’s address – at her Milwaukee home in March, adding that she has yet to find a perpetrator and does not know if active investigations are taking place.
“I had a SWAT team arrive at my home, saying that they had gotten reports that there was a woman in my basement bound and tied up and being held hostage,” she told WISN in an interview on Sunday. “I immediately recognized that it was a swatting effort.”
She added that she “felt very sorry” and invited them in because of their efforts to answer to the false calls.
“I just think it’s a misuse of our public service. If people want to protest, there are ways to do it without exploiting our resources,” Moore said. “I have not had any problem with people protesting outside my home, I have left them alone, but I do think that this is outside the boundaries of decency.”
She continued: “I do think it’s an effort on some people’s part, to diminish our popularity and our credibility,” Moore said Sunday. “I do feel concerned that people will be confused and misguided and misled.”
The news comes on the heels of several swatting incidents among high-profile citizens in the past several months. In February, Shine My Crown reported that Congresswoman Shontel Brown has become the latest victim of swatting.
According to The Plain Dealer, Rep. Brown (D-OH) said she was a target of swatting at her home in Northeast, Ohio. She was in Washington, D.C. at the time the incident took place.
“It is truly alarming that someone would attempt to harass or intimidate me in this way, while also forcing law enforcement to devote resources unnecessarily,” Brown wrote in a statement following the incident. “No one deserves this, and it puts so many people at real risk, including family members, neighbors, law enforcement, and others,” Brown’s statement continued. “We have got to get back to debating respectfully, respecting elections, and removing all violence and intimidation from our democracy.”
She added that she was thankful to the Warrensville Heights police department for probing into the hoax and her D.C. office has contacted the U.S. Capitol Police. At the time of this writing there have been no arrests.
Other politicians have been swatted in recent months. Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from Georgia was targeted on Christmas Day. Moore said Wisconsin’s Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin was swatted the “very next morning” after she was.
“I do think it’s an effort on some people’s part, to diminish our popularity and our credibility,” Moore said Sunday. “I do feel concerned that people will be confused and misguided and misled.”
Swatting attempts, which are false threats intended to trigger police responses, have also become more widespread against schools in recent years.
On Tuesday, students and staff evacuated Brookfield Elementary School after a threat that police later concluded was a swatting incident. Police have not said whether multiple threats against Milwaukee French Immersion School last week were swatting threats.
