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Conservative pundit and author Erik Rush has become the latest victim of “swatting,” a growing trend in which individuals place fake 911 calls drawing police response to a celebrity’s home. Rush, who resides in Fort Collins, Colo., appears to have been targeted following a series of controversial tweets regarding the Boston Marathon explosions.
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According to Coloradoan.com, an individual claiming to be Rush called Fort Collins police Monday at about 5 p.m., reporting that two men wielding AK-47 rifles were firing rounds inside his home. But with no additional calls reporting the gunshots and because the call came to 911 through a third-party relay service, police dispatchers were suspicious. Rush was contacted by police via his home phone and confirmed that the call was fake.
Speaking with reporters outside his home following the incident, Rush said he had “said something sarcastically” on Twitter regarding early media reports that a Saudi man was connected to the Boston Marathon terrorist attack that day. “Yes, they’re evil. Kill them all,” he wrote, which quickly prompted a firestorm of responses.
STORY: From Tom Cruise to Selena Gomez: A ‘Swattings’ Timeline
“Everybody do the National Security Ankle Grab! Let’s bring more Saudis in without screening them! C’mon! #bostonmarathon,” he also tweeted around the time of the incident.
Regarding the swatting, Rush said: “It’s really unfortunate and dangerous because people can get hurt … but I get it. It comes with the territory.”
Rush is a WND columnist and author of the book Negrophilia: From Slave Block to Pedestal – America’s Racial Obsession.
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