Pete Buttigieg Was the Target of a Swatting Incident — What Happened?

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says that he and his family were the victims of swatting in June after an anonymous report prompted a response from Child Protective Services and police officers at their home in Traverse City, Michigan.

In a post on his Substack, Buttigieg wrote: "Someone decided to hurt our family this week. I’m furious, and I want to share what happened."

According to Buttigieg, a Child Protective Services worker and a police officer arrived at his home and said that someone had made an allegation relating to him and his 4-year-old twins that would require the children to be interviewed without him present.

Buttigieg said he and his husband, Chasten, were ordered to have the children turned over to their grandparents to safeguard them while the interviews were arranged.

"The 24 hours until they returned are among the darkest hours of my life. I tried to get my head around the idea that I had been accused of something so serious that I couldn’t be alone around my own children, and had consented to have them interviewed by strangers, without my knowing where the accusation had come from or even what it contained," Buttigieg wrote.

"Many times over the years, I have been denounced, yelled at, protested, threatened, and heckled. I’ve been through political attacks in office, death threats in public life, and rocket attacks in war," he added. "But this is the ugliest thing that has happened to me since my career in service began."

Buttigieg was told by police that someone who had claimed to have met him at a conference told authorities that he had admitted to "[committing] unspeakable violent crimes," and that the children were at risk.

Michigan State Police said in a statement that the anonymous report was false.

"False reports are dangerous and divert law enforcement officers and Child Protective Services workers from responding to legitimate emergencies and protecting vulnerable children and families," a spokesperson stated.

Buttigieg and his children have since been reunited.

The politician went on to write: "Everyone knows politics is ugly these days. It’s always been ugly, but now it feels more and more like bloodsport. Cruelty, lies, and even deadly violence have been directed at political figures across the ideological spectrum. Generally, everyone agrees this has to stop, even as our country (and public figures) get all too used to it. Even so, this is different... Now our family is left to deal with the aftermath. I worry about any unseen effects this had on our kids, on Chasten and me, and on the rest of our family."

“I don’t know who did this, or exactly what prompted them to try. It’s not lost on me that this happened soon after we shared photos of our family on social media for Father’s Day. Or that this occurred during a month meant to make families like ours feel welcome and safe. We’re used to nasty, hateful, and sometimes violent things being said about us and even about our family. But this is the first time someone managed to invade our lives like this — and drag our children into it."

Swatting has unfortunately become far more common in recent years, with bad actors calling authorities and submitting false reports of dangerous situations in the hopes of soliciting an armed police response.

Celebrities and influencers are increasingly being targeted by the practice, with several being swatted during livestreams.

But the crime can have deadly consequences. In 2017, police fatally shot Andrew Thomas Finch after an argument between two gamers, Casey Viner and Shane Gaskill, entered the real world. Viner threatened to have Gaskill swatted, to which Gaskill responded by giving Viner a random address.

Viner asked Tyler Barriss to swat the address, which was actually the home of Andrew Thomas Finch. Wichita Police Department officers responded to the address, where Finch opened the door. According to police reports, the victim was ordered to raise his hands, but stopped.

One of the police officers responded by firing a single shot, which killed Finch.

Barriss was sentenced to 20 years for making the fake report, while Viner and Gaskill were sentenced to 15 and 18 months. The police officer who shot Finch was not charged.