Fire trucks and ambulances were urgently dispatched to the White House early Monday morning around 7 a.m. in response to a false alarm prompted by a “prank caller” falsely claiming a fire and someone trapped inside the residence.
This incident marks the latest in a series of swatting events targeting political figures, with a troubling trend of such events being initiated by prank callers associated with the Democratic party against their political adversaries.
The prank call reported a fire at the White House, leading emergency services and the U.S. Secret Service to rush to the snow-covered scene, only to ascertain that it was a hoax.
A Washington, D.C., dispatcher made the alarming announcement at 7:04 a.m.: “Fire in the White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”
After a thorough evaluation, authorities issued an “all clear” at 7:15 a.m. Notably, President Joe Biden was safely situated at Camp David during the incident, far from the White House.
The prank call was traced back to a likely spoofed phone number, as someone reached at the callback number for the 911 report denied placing the call.
This unsettling incident adds to a concerning pattern of swatting targeting various public figures, including Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), along with celebrities Ashton Kutcher, Justin Bieber, and Kim Kardashian.
Swatting stands as a perilous criminal deception involving the deliberate filing of a false report to law enforcement, designed to draw them to a location under the false pretense of a severe crime such as an imminent mass shooting, bombing, or hostage situation.
The intention behind swatting is to prompt an aggressive response from local police and SWAT teams, who, in the absence of any information about the call’s authenticity, respond as if the reported crime is genuine.
The consequences of swatting can be catastrophic. A tragic incident in 2017 resulted in the death of Andrew Finch when a group of online gamers, later convicted, engaged in a 911 call falsely reporting a man at Finch’s residence had shot his father and was holding his mother and brother hostage at gunpoint, threatening to set the home on fire.
The responding police, unaware of the deception, confronted Finch and fatally shot him.
