Police raid home of Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg and lock down school after hoax ‘swatting’ call
A call came in that someone with a weapon was at the family home of David Hogg, but it was a hoax, says police spokeswoman
The family home of Florida school shooting survivor and gun-law activist David Hogg was raided by police following a fake emergency call on Tuesday, leading to swift and heavy police response and a lockdown of at least one local elementary school, authorities said.
“It was a hoax call,” Broward County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Gina Carter said of the 8.39am report that someone was at the home with a weapon.
“A Swat team responded and cleared the home,” she said. “We are investigating who made the call.” She said the lockdown at an area elementary school was quickly lifted.
The practice of calling in prank police reports to have someone’s home raided is known as “swatting”. Last year a 28-year-old Kansas man was shot dead by police after he became a victim of a similar hoax.
Hogg, 18, made no direct mention of the incident on Twitter, where he has amassed more than 800,000 followers. He did, however, tweet shortly after the incident that “I could really use a chocolate chip muffin right now.”
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Hogg graduated Sunday from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. He was one of several students thrust into the spotlight after the Valentine’s Day shooting rampage at his school left 17 students and staff dead and more than a dozen wounded.
Hogg was a leader of the March for Our Lives movement, which prompted hundreds of rallies and marches across the nation and around the world demanding safe schools and stricter gun laws.
He was accepted at the University of California-Irvine but has said he will take a “gap year” to promote voting among young people ahead of the November midterm elections.
He and about two dozen Parkland students are launching the “March for Our Lives Road to Change” next week. The two-month bus tour will make at least 75 stops in more than 20 states.
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“We’re going to places where the NRA has bought and paid for politicians who refuse to take simple steps to save our lives,” the March for Our Lives leaders said in a statement.
“The group will visit communities affected by gun violence “to meet fellow survivors and use our voices to amplify theirs.”
