My husband and I were swatted. Twice, two days apart—just before Christmas 2023, then on Christmas Day. It is a time when thoughts are on family, Jesus’ birth, getting together with friends, and a recent health issue, not threats and potential tragedy.

But that’s what we had to deal with that year.

I can confirm that the Romanian-born man, Thomasz Szabo, who recently pled guilty to swatting over 75 public officials, including a former president, was the individual who swatted us. They were targeting our son, Jack Posobiec, a well-known conservative commentator and host of Human Events Daily.

We have experienced a range of emotions during that time and the last 18 months, really. For my husband, it has mostly been anger at the people who did this to us. For me, it’s an unsettling sense of helplessness. For both of us, it’s a worry about whether we are prepared enough if and when something else happens.

Swattings have, unfortunately, been happening more frequently in the past couple of years. In the more recent incidents, they often involve members of Congress and the media (often conservative). They are considered very dangerous, and homeowners have been killed when they appeared to be a threat to the responding officers. In addition, due to the imminent and violent nature of the calls, the police are on edge and responding quickly, which recently led to the death of an innocent woman when a police car that responding to a bomb threat at Marjorie Taylor Greene’s house hit her car. 

It is well known that an increase in domestic violence occurs around holidays due to increased stress and high expectations. As we were at our local police station afterward, one of the officers who had responded to the initial call said that they did honestly believe the caller since the timing of the call was so close to the holidays. 

For the initial swatting, I had just left the house, so my husband was alone at home. A seemingly minor incident occurred that could have played a major role in how the responding officers dealt with the situation. I had decided to attend a late afternoon mass, so I was in the car in our driveway when I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to drop off a small Christmas gift to a relative before mass. Due to this change of plan, I left the driveway and went the opposite way up our street than I would have gone had I been going directly to church.

It was just as I was passing the next-door neighbor’s house when I noticed a police car. The officer rolled down his window and asked if I had just left our address. When I said yes, he told me that they had just received a call about a violent domestic disturbance, using specific names of family members, inside our home. I told him that I had just left and where I was going and calmly stated that I suspected it was a prank. At the time, I did not get upset as I was familiar with similar recent swattings, especially among conservative members of the government and media. A total of six police cars and an ambulance arrived at our house, concerning all the neighbors.

He wanted me to wait in my car but call my husband and have him come to the door, which I said I could do, of course, but it would take him a little time, as he had just had knee surgery and was using a walker, so to be patient. The officers were able to speak with my husband, who came out on the porch, looked around the house, and also spoke with our son via phone, who the caller had named. I noticed that one of them was shaking as he wrote down the information for his report.

Had I gone the opposite way down the street directly towards the church, the officers likely would have surrounded the house with guns drawn, demanding my husband (who was not able to move quickly) open the door.  We are a 2A-friendly home, which shouldn’t be an issue, but it could have made things different, especially if the call had come in late at night. This scenario could have been a much more stressful situation for all involved. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but thinking back on it gave me pause, and I believe that was the hand of God.

The second swatting incident occurred on Christmas evening. A similar call was made, using specific names and detailing horrific violence that had just occurred at our home and a threat of more violence if the police didn’t come quickly. As there was just a call two days earlier, we thought the police would be familiar with the previous swatting, but some officers were working that night who were not aware. We were not even there, but we were able to speak with them via our Ring camera and with the help of a friend who knew about the first swatting and realized it was happening again. Thankfully, he came over to open the door to let the officers look around the house. 

The local police handled it very professionally, and we spoke later with a detective who looked into the incidents. Even though we had assurances that if any further calls were made about our address, the police would be aware of the previous incidents and handle them differently, there is always the chance that new officers unfamiliar with the history would be involved. So, we lived on the edge for over a year, with a note on our door to inform the police of the previous incidents in case they occurred again. To say that we were relieved when we heard of the arrest of the individual(s) involved is an understatement. We had thought (still do) of moving over these swattings, but that would signal that ‘they’ had won.

We are cautiously optimistic, as the individual has recently pleaded guilty to not only our incident but also to many others. However, there are many copycats, and it seems that these swattings are still occurring. Some advice we can offer is to notify your local police if you suspect you may be the target of a swatting incident, so they can handle the situation at a lower threat level. It may be helpful to let close neighbors know that swatting might be a possibility. These incidents show how, even if you think you’re being careful, you shouldn’t get complacent about privacy and security in your home.