Swatting is the cowardly and illegal act of calling in a violent incident at a person’s address in order to send the police to their home.
Conrad announced the fact mid-stream by stating, “Police are here. I just got swatted, one second, I gotta go.”
Thankfully, Cory was not injured or murdered by the police and everything worked out. This makes for one of the most peaceful swattings that have happened recently because police don’t always take the time to examine the situation before acting on a tip.
Swatting has been a serious danger and extremely scary and illegal act that has been with the gaming community for some time now. For the most part, swatting does not end in injury or death. However, in 2017, a Call of Duty player named Tyler Barriss called the police on another player and that person was shot and killed by the responding officers. Barriss has since been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Streamers are particular vulnerable to swatting when their address can be determined by would-be swatters who can then call the police and give false information about a dangerous situation evolving at the location. This can be worsened if the streamer is the only person home and is wearing headphones and therefore will not hear officers knocking on the door, which can potentially lead to an escalation.
Other victims of swattings include YouTuber Phil “DarkSydePhil” Burnell and entrepreneur Markus “Markee Dragon” Eikenberry both during 2015. Felix “xQC” Lengyel, a controversial Overwatch streamer, was swatted during a livestream when his home was raided and he was handcuffed just off camera in his California apartment.
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