The Fairfax County, Virginia, home of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett is the latest target of a malicious “swatting” attempt, prompting a rapid law enforcement coordination that quickly exposed the emergency call as a hoax.
At approximately 9:02 pm on Wednesday evening, police received a call to their non-emergency line reporting active gunfire outside of the justice’s suburban residence.
Officers contacted security at the residence and quickly determined the report was a false call intended to swat the home. Swatting is the illegal act of making a false report of a violent or high-risk incident in order to trigger a heavily armed police response to an unsuspecting person’s address.
“Officers immediately coordinated with Supreme Court Police personnel assigned to the residence and quickly determined that the report was fictitious. No additional police resources were utilized,” the police department said.
Barrett’s home has also previously been a focal point of chaotic demonstrations, drawing persistent crowds of abortion-rights activists following the High Court’s landmark 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) weighed in on the reports, characterizing the hoax as an attempt to get an innocent person killed, in this case, a sitting Supreme Court justice. He suggested the proper response will be putting the offender in prison for “many, many years.”
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