Posted on 08/28/2014 2:43:35 PM PDT by HammerT
A Littleton, Colorado, man named Jordan Mathewson was raided by a heavily armed SWAT team thanks to a false shooting and hostage report, and all the chaos was captured on a Twitch game stream (see below). During a Counter-Strike session, Jordan "Kootra" Mathewson -- a founder of The Creatures -- suddenly noticed things around him were amiss. "Uh oh. This isn't good. They're clearing rooms. What in the world, I think we're getting swatted," he says in the video. Luckily, Mathewson stayed calm throughout the ordeal and was released a short time later.
On top of invading his offices, police locked down several schools and businesses in the Littleton area. Suffice to say, the situation was extremely dangerous, and the police chief said, "We have real guns and real bullets, and there's potential there for some tragedy."
Sadly, Mathewson's ordeal isn't an isolated one: "Swatting" is the act of calling in false reports to draw real SWAT teams to a target's house, and is often inflicted on rival gamers. As Vice News pointed out recently, the phenomenon is fairly new and can easily result in deaths, especially when malicious calls involve shots fired. There's no word yet on who perpetrated the hoax (despite one claim) but police said they'd prosecute whoever it was "to the fullest extent of the law."
(Excerpt) Read more at engadget.com ...
Someone calling in a false report, or some bored Rambos itching to try out their new SWAT toys?
he’s an idiot for doing this in the first place
Is was on a false report – but you never know how much some would like to play with their toys.
Should charge the perp with attempted murder!
Whoever makes a false call like that needs to be dealt with harshly but
this would happen a lot less if cops would do some real detective work.
http://krebsonsecurity.com/2014/05/teen-arrested-for-30-swattings-bomb-threats/
To do that would be to admit that law abiding citizens are in danger of being murdered any time the SWAT team is deployed. The state needs to maintain the illusion that if you are doing nothing wrong you have nothing to fear.
he’s an idiot for doing this in the first place
____________________________________________________
For doing what? He was the victim.
Yes, they need to figure out when to hold back and check things out before charging in and putting themselves and others in danger.
old fashioned police work....
and at least get the right address.... lol
If the prankster himself had given the wrong address then the victim of this would have really had no clue what was going on. I can picture a potentially very bad outcome from that.
Failure to do basic police work before a stupid and probably needless raid is too common.
Littleton, Colorado must be a haven for some serious kooks. They are in the news quite frequently for a mere wide spot in the road.
It sure seems to be. Verify the subject. Verify the location. Verify a crime has been or is being committed. Basic 19th century detective work.
ain't nobody got time fo' dat!
But what should I expect from someone that loves some authority?
/johnny
IIRC, there was a certain internet blogger who was using that as a weapon against his critics.
He would spoof the victim number and call in a report and the police would send in the SWAT team.
We’re living in some dangerous times..
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.