Nikki Haley’s Home Swatted After Man Claimed He Shot Girlfriend There

GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley was a victim of a swatting attack last month after a man claimed to have shot his girlfriend at her South Carolina home, it was revealed on Sunday.

Swatting is when someone makes a false report prompting a police presence. Several politicians have recently fell victim to swatting attacks like Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. At least 27 swatting attacks of politicians, prosecutors, election officials, and judges have been documented by Reuters since last November. Swatting could result in injury or death as police are arriving to a home believing there to be danger present.

In late December, police responded to the former South Carolina governor’s $2.4 million dollar home in Kiawah Island, a gated community, after receiving a 911 call from a man who “claimed to have shot his girlfriend and threatened to harm himself while at the residence of Nikki Haley,” Craig Harris, Kiawah Island director of public safety, told town officials, according to an email obtained by Reuters.

“It was determined to be a hoax…Nikki Haley is not on the island and her son is with her,” Harris said on December 30, the same day the swatting call was made.

A suspect nor a potential motive for the prank call was revealed in the email.

Harris, however, did say in the email that he was in contact with the South Carolina Department of Public Safety (SCDPS), the FBI, and Haley’s security team, adding, “This incident is being investigated by all involved.”

Newsweek reached out to Haley’s campaign team and Harris via email for comment. It also reached out to SCDPS and the FBI’s Columbia office via phone for comment.

A South Carolina FBI official said in a separate email obtained by Reuters that federal agents were tracking the call and planned to open a “threat assessment” of the incident.