Late last year, Katherine Clark [D-MA] introduced a bill that specifically criminalized swatting (tricking the police into thinking that there's an armed standoff in your victim's home in order to get them to swarm it with guns blazing); late Sunday night, someone tried to swat her.

The police in Melrose, Mass got a robot-voice phone call claiming "shots fired"/"active shooter" at Clark's house.

Luckily for Clark, the local cops followed their "established protocols" and did not hurt anyone, though they did block both ends of her street with squad-cars and interrupt her family viewing of "Veep."

Asked if she would be less vocal about the issue now, she laughed and said no. "If that was the intent of calling in this event," Clark said, "I think they have underestimated my commitment to making sure that we do stop this practice." Clark said she had been very sympathetic to people who have been the victims of swatting before Sunday night but now fully understands what it's like. The experience, she said, "will really cause me to double down."



Police swarm Katherine Clark's home after apparent hoax

[Joshua Miller/Boston Globe]

(via Ars Technica)