White House targeted in latest alarming swatting incident!
Washington DC - Fire and ambulance crews rushed to the White House on Monday in the latest high-profile swatting incident.
Law enforcement and emergency services reportedly received an emergency call at 7:03 AM of a fire and a person trapped inside.
The call was ultimately traced to a fake number and the reports of a fire determined to be false, but not before several fire engines and a number of first responders had been sent to the White House.
President Joe Biden was not on site at the time, having spent the weekend at Camp David in Maryland.
The call has been deemed the latest in a string of swatting pranks, a criminal hoax that involves making a false police report in the hopes that a SWAT team will be dispatched to the location. This can have dangerous consequences if officers respond with force to the fake incident.
Several calls have targeted several politicians and public figures in recent weeks, including Judge Tanya Chutkan and Special Counsel Jack Smith, who are involved in Donald Trump's federal election subversion case, and Judge Arthur Engoron, who is overseeing Trump's New York civil fraud trial.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, Senator Rick Scott, and Congressman Brandon Williams are some of the officials said to have been subject to swatting pranks.
Cover photo: Daniel SLIM / AFP