Tis the season for swatting. The latest reported victim is Boston Mayor Michelle Wu. Her home was swatted on Christmas Day.
The mayor was home at the time. Wu said she was shocked to open her door and see lots of flashing lights. She claimed, however, it didn’t disrupt her family’s evening. The police and EMS crews were responding to a call that came through on the city’s 311 information system. The caller claimed that a man had shot his wife inside that house and left her tied up next to a second man.
“For better or worse my family are a bit used to it by now, and we have a good system with the department,” she told the radio station.
It is not clear if Wu’s two young sons, whom she shares with her husband Conor Pewarski, were in the home at the time of the call.
Wu probably wants to downplay the event and act like it’s no big deal to keep her sons calm but you have to admit it sounds weird for her to say it didn’t disrupt her family’s evening. Swatting isn’t normal behavior and shouldn’t flippantly be treated as no big deal. It’s criminal behavior and it’s dangerous.
John wrote about two Republican representatives who were swatted on Christmas Day. Why is it happening now? Maybe because people are angry about the state of the country and are taking it out on politicians. More likely, it is mentally ill people with too much time on their hands. In Wu’s case, it may be a form of backlash over the publicity her holiday party that excluded white people caused. She hosted a holiday party, “Electeds of Color Holiday Party” on Dec. 13, which she said was an annual tradition.
Wu said that this was not the first time she has been targeted by swatting.
Wu claimed Monday’s swatting incident was not the first time she’s been targeted for such calls since she took office in November 2021.
She went on to slam the frequency of such calls saying it took first responders away from actual incidents.
“When there are true emergencies that happen and there are resources being deployed in this way, it is concerning,” Wu told the station.
Police are still investigating if Monday’s call was related to any of the other one’s at Wu’s home.
A Command Center was formed by the FBI in May to enable law enforcement to share information.
The scourge has become prevalent enough that the FBI took an unprecedented step of forming a Command Center in May 2023 for all federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to share reports of swatting incidents.
The FBI’s National Swatting Virtual Command Center, which does not appear to share statistics publicly, “is the first time ever that the federal government has created a centralized command center for law enforcement agencies across the country to exchange, track, and share information related to swatting incidents and is a key step towards being able to better understand the nature and prevalence of these crimes,” according to a report issued by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat.
Fortunately, in Wu’s case and those of the Republicans – Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Rep. Brandon Williams (R-NY) – no one was hurt. Swatting is a dangerous hoax to handle. Law enforcement doesn’t know what they are in for until they get to the scene. Let’s hope this recent spree of swatting comes to an end quickly before someone does get hurt.