Swatting is considered to be illegal. After all calling the police and claiming that there is an active shooting or if there are hostages could potentially result in accidents or even fatalities. So much so that last year, Rep. Katherine Clark proposed an idea in which it would make swatting a federal offense.However it turns out that the people who do enjoy swatting weren’t too pleased with her actions. In fact in what seemed to be a rather ironic situation, Clark was recently a victim of swatting herself, according to a report from the Boston Globe. While a SWAT team was not called, police officers in vehicles showed up on her front lawn bearing firearms, claiming to have received a report of an active shooter in her home.
According to Melrose police spokesman, John Guilfoil, he claims that the department had received a call at night to inform them of the alleged shooting. Guilfoil adds, “Certainly when you have an apparent false report that is intended to raise the alarm of the police department, one could infer that someone or some entity was trying to elicit a large police response.”
Maybe the intention of the call was to try and intimidate Clark and to force her to back down, but it seems to have done the opposite. When asked if she would be less vocal about swatting in the future, Clarke replied by saying, “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.”
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