Christmas Day was marred for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as she became the target of a swatting attempt at her home in Georgia, with local police and the congresswoman reporting the false emergency. Rome Police Department established that the distress call was a hoax and did not deploy their officers to Greene's residence, said department spokesperson Kelly Madden. "I was just swatted. This is like the 8th time. On Christmas with my family here. My local police are the GREATEST and shouldn’t have to deal with this," Greene lamented in a post on X, as Atlanta News First reported.
The incident was set in motion by a man from New York dialing the Georgia suicide hotline not long before 11 a.m. yesterday, falsely claiming he had shot his girlfriend at the congresswoman's address and was considering suicide. Responders to the hotline swiftly moved to involve the police upon recognition of the significance of a address. Madden explained that Greene's private security was contacted to verify her safety, and it became evident that there was no actual emergency at her home. "We determined before our personnel could get to her location that there was no emergency and there was no reason to respond. Her security detail had it all under control, and there actually was nothing going on," Madden stated, according to a narrative provided by AP News.
Representing northwest Georgia's cities of Rome, Dalton, and Calhoun, Greene's tenure in Congress has been controversial. During her first term, she was removed from her committee assignments by the former House Democratic majority over comments deemed racist, her alignment with conspiracy theories, and her previous condoning of violence against Democratic officials. Despite such tribulations, she has found footing within the House's current Republican majority, assuming a role as an outspoken representative of the far right.
This recent swatting attempt follows several others, with Greene claiming nearly eight similar events. Previous instances involved false reporting of fatalities at her home. With police officers dispatched to her abode on earlier occasions, a trustful relationship has since developed between local law enforcement and Greene's security detail, enhancing the capacity to evaluate such threats. Madden confirmed that their criminal investigations division is actively pursuing identification of the Christmas Day prankster, aiming to construct a solid case. This announcement comes after a man from New York received a three-month prison sentence in August for making threatening calls to Greene's Washington, D.C., office, demonstrating the serious consequences of such hoaxes.
