Marjorie Taylor Greene targeted by swatting attempt on Christmas Day

ROME, Ga. — U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green said she was the victim of another swatting attempt on Christmas Day, though police were able to quickly verify the call was a hoax, according to WSB-TV.

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Swatting happens when a person calls authorities to falsely report a major crime in hopes of drawing armed police or SWAT teams to a location.

“I was just swatted,” Greene wrote Monday in a post on social media. “This is like the 8th time. On Christmas with my family here. My local police are the GREATEST and shouldn’t have to deal with this.”

The Rome Police Department in Georgia learned Monday of a call made through a crisis hotline, possibly from Rome, New York, saying that authorities needed to respond to Greene’s home in Georgia on Christmas morning, WSB and CNN reported.

“A man in New York called the Georgia suicide hotline just before 11 a.m. Monday, claiming that he had shot his girlfriend at Greene’s home and was going to kill himself next,” police spokeswoman Kelly Madden told WSB.

Officers contacted Greene’s security detail, who confirmed no shooting had taken place, the news station reported.

“We determined before our personnel could get to her location that there was no emergency and there was no reason to respond,” Madden told The Associated Press. “Her security detail had it all under control, and there actually was nothing going on.”

Madden added that Greene’s claim that she has been targeted by swatting attempts about eight times before is accurate. In the past, authorities have gotten calls claiming that dead bodies were found in the bathtub and other parts of Greene’s home, and false reports of shootings outside the house, the AP reported. Police have since begun to work with Greene’s security detail to better determine when the emergency calls are legitimate.

Rep. Brandon Williams, R-N.Y., said his family was also targeted by a swatting call on Christmas Day. Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck told CNN that deputies and New York State Police responded to a reported shooting incident at Williams’ home just after 2 p.m. and quickly determined the call to be false.