A Philadelphia-area Republican official had his home swatted after he endorsed Democrat Kamala Harris for president.
According to news reports Tuesday, Matt McCaffery had law enforcement show up at his home under mistaken pretenses late night Friday.
“It’s midnight and somebody’s pounding on my door, what the heck could this be?” Mr. McCaffery told TV station WPVI ABC-6 in Philadelphia. “Me and my wife met at the top of the stairs and I was like, ’I think we’re being swatted.’”
The station said that Mr. McCaffery’s home surveillance footage shows him surrendering to gun-wielding Upper Merion police officers.
Being “swatted” happens when someone falsely reports an ongoing crime at your house, causing the police to show up.
It isn’t a common outcome, but such incidents have resulted in gunfights or fatalities if the police or the swatting victim do something “wrong.”
“We did receive information about a possible hostage situation at the home of Mr. McCaffery. Our officers responded and they found no issues at the location. It is an active investigation and we will not speculate on motive,” Upper Merion police said in a statement.
Mr. McCaffery, the Republican municipal chair in Upper Merion Township and a member of the Montgomery County Republican Committee, called the incident politically motivated.
“There’s no doubt in my mind. Apparently, I ruffled somebody’s feathers somewhere and I hope that the perpetrators are caught,” he said.
Mr. McCaffery, who said in a Philadelphia Inquirer op-ed last month that he would not vote for former President Donald Trump, said the call at his home came just a few hours after a Friday interview on CNN about his endorsement of Ms. Harris.
“When I became a committee person in 2022, my goal was to move us away from that, move us away from the Trump chaos,” McCaffery told ABC-6.
Apart from the swatting, he’s no longer a Republican committee member after his endorsement, removed in a Monday disciplinary hearing.
“The Committee felt this to be a very straightforward case. Your very public and continuous disparaging remarks against President Donald J. Trump and endorsement of Kamala Harris is in clear violation of MCRC’s bylaws,” party chair Christian Nascimento wrote in a letter addressed to Mr. McCaffery.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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