Recently reviewed records indicate GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s South Carolina home was targeted in a swatting incident last month.

Authorities arrived to investigate reports that a man killed his girlfriend and threatened to harm himself at Haley’s residence.

According to reports, the swatting incident occurred on December 30th.

The New York Post reports:

The swatting attack took place on Dec. 30 in the town of Kiawah Island. Neither Haley nor her son were not at home during the incident.

The story of the swatting was related by Kiawah Island Director of Public Safety, Craig Harris, who said in an email obtained by Reuters that an unknown person called 911 and “claimed to have shot his girlfriend and threatened to harm himself while at the residence of Nikki Haley.”

Haley, a former ambassador to the United Nations and governor of South Carolina, is currently in a last stand effort to secure the 2024 Republican nomination for president. Former President Trump has so far dominated the race, trouncing Haley in both the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary. Haley is Trump’s last major competitor who remains in the contest.

Swatting incidents have surged in the past couple months, and targets include both Republican and Democrat politicians.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Rep. Brandon Williams (R-NY), Boston Mayor Michelle Wu (D), and Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows are some of the public servants targeted in swatting incidents.

From Reuters:

Swatting is the filing of false reports to the police to set off a potentially dangerous response by officers. Law enforcement experts see it as a form of intimidation or harassment that is increasingly being used to target prominent figures, including officials involved in the civil and criminal cases against Trump.

In the email, Harris said he was in contact with South Carolina’s state police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the head of Haley’s security team. “This incident is being investigated by all involved,” he wrote. The email did not mention a suspect or potential motive. In a separate email obtained by Reuters, an FBI official in South Carolina told Harris and other law enforcement officials that federal agents were tracking the hoax call and intended to open a “threat assessment” into the matter.

Harris and the state police had no immediate comment on the incident. The FBI declined to comment on the specific swatting of Haley’s home but said, “when the threats are made as a hoax, it puts innocent people at risk, is a waste of law enforcement’s limited resources, and costs taxpayers.” Law enforcement agencies have not publicly identified a suspect in the Haley case or in other high-profile swatting cases.

Haley and her husband bought the $2.4 million Kiawah Island residence in October 2019, local property records indicate.

 

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