A few days ago, Pete Buttigieg posted something on social media that stopped me mid-scroll.
He said he had been separated from his young children during a "swatting attack" at his home.
Jinguk glanced over at my phone and said: "What is swatting?"
I opened my mouth to explain and then realized — this one takes a minute. Because swatting isn't just a word. It's a whole American phenomenon, and it says something uncomfortable about where we are right now.
What "Swatting" Means
Swatting is when someone calls the police and makes a false emergency report — usually claiming there's an active shooter, a hostage situation, or a bomb — at someone else's address. The goal is to send a SWAT team (Special Weapons and Tactics — heavily armed police units) crashing into that person's home.
The word comes from SWAT. Someone is "swatted" the same way you'd say someone was "robbed" or "targeted." It became a verb because it happens often enough to need one.
Where It Started
Swatting started in online gaming communities. If someone beat you badly, or you wanted to harass a rival streamer mid-broadcast, you'd call in a fake emergency to their address. SWAT teams would show up live on camera. People thought it was funny.
It was never funny. And it has escalated far beyond gaming.
Politicians, journalists, celebrities, school administrators, private citizens — swatting has become a tool of intimidation aimed at anyone someone wants to terrorize without leaving their own house.
The Pete Buttigieg Incident
Buttigieg — who served as Transportation Secretary under Biden and is frequently named as a potential Democratic contender — posted that someone had called in a false emergency report to his home address. When SWAT units arrived, the confusion that followed meant he was temporarily separated from his children.
He went public about it specifically to name swatting for what it is: not a prank, not a stunt. A crime. One designed to terrify families inside their own homes.
It Has Already Killed Someone
In 2017, in Wichita, Kansas, a man named Andrew Finch was shot and killed by police who responded to a swatting call made to his address. He had nothing to do with the fake emergency. He opened his front door and was killed.
The person who made the call received 20 years in federal prison.
That case didn't stop swatting. It keeps happening.
Why I Think About This
When I explained all of this to Jinguk, he was quiet for a moment. Then he said: "So someone can just make a phone call and armed police show up at your house? And there's nothing you can do about it before it happens?"
Yes. That's exactly it.
There's something specifically American about swatting — the easy access to emergency services, the firepower of a SWAT response, the culture of online anonymity that lets people cause real-world violence from a keyboard. It couldn't work quite the same way in most other countries.
I live in this country. I walk these streets, live in these neighborhoods. The idea that someone could make one false call and send armed police to any door — it's worth understanding. Not to be afraid, but to be clear-eyed about what's happening here.
If you're ever in a situation where police respond to your location and you believe it's a false report, you can say: "There is no crime here. I believe this may be a swatting call." It won't undo the situation, but it names it.
Sumi | NYC + Hudson Valley | @miguktv on YouTube
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