(RepublicanPress.org) – Over the holiday season in 2023, several lawmakers and government officials were targeted in swatting incidents, including Special Counsel Jack Smith, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), former Arizona State House Representative Rusty Bowers (R), Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Cybersecurity, Infrastructure and Security Agency Director Jen Easterly, and others were targeted in swatting incidents. Now, authorities might have a lead on the crimes.
Law enforcement officials recently revealed that federal agents located a person of interest concerning 100 swatting phone calls in the United States. Sources familiar with the issue stated the person lives in Serbia, and both the FBI and Secret Service have already searched their home, taking computers and other electronics for their investigation.
Secret Service, Justice Dept locate person of interest in swatting attacks on DHS Sec. Mayorkas, Congress & other officials
There was a rash of swatting incidents against high-profile govt victims during Christmas holiday season
Filed to CBS News ===>https://t.co/H1zhSTvxo5
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) March 16, 2024
The chief of staff for one of the swatting victims from late December 2023, Representative Brandon Williams (R-NY), confirmed the legislator’s office was informed about the “foreign national living overseas” capture. A person of interest isn’t necessarily a suspect but could be someone with information about the crime or a witness.
On the other hand, a suspect is a person police believe committed a particular crime. Still, a person of interest could become a suspect as more evidence is collected.
Swatting is a crime whereby a person calls emergency services with a false report, causing a large police presence to respond. Those events can have deadly consequences and have, in fact, ended in violence. Some of the claims used to mobilize the SWAT teams in late 2023 included fake shootings, burglaries, and murder.
No one was hurt in those instances, but that isn’t always the case. In 2021, a man died from a heart attack after a swatting incident, and another man was shot and killed in 2017 during a similar event.
The Department of Justice, the Secret Service, the FBI, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have commented on the ongoing investigation.
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