Last night, I was swatted just after 1 am.
I can’t express enough gratitude to my local law enforcement here in Rome, Floyd County.
More details to come.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) August 24, 2022
Swatting, which refers to the practice of calling the cops to someone’s home saying there’s a hostage situation or similar, is a common troll terrorism tactic, most frequently directed between gamers and at video game streamers, some have turned deadly. In 2017, Wichita, Kansas man Andrew Finch was shot and killed by police after Shane Gaskill, the teenage target of a swatting plot taunted his rival Casey Viner, of Ohio, by giving Viner his former address – Finch’s mother’s home. Viner then asked Los Angeles man Tyler Rai Barriss to place the call, telling Wichita cops and said there was hostage situation at the Finch house. Barriss later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Viner and Gaskill also pleaded guilty, with Viner receiving 15 months in prison, while Gaskill is still awaiting sentencing. He faces up to 20 years in federal prison.