Bugha, the winner of the Fortnite World Cup, was swatted while streaming the game live on Twitch.
A lot of people who follow games know who Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf is. He’s the 16-year-old who made headlines all over the world when he won the Fortnite World Cup Solos finals and pocketed a cool $3 million in prize money. Unfortunately, the attention coming his way since has not entirely been positive.
While streaming Fortnite on Twitch, armed officers arrived at Bugha’s house after he got swatted. From the recording, you can see Bugha leave his desk after his father informs him that armed police have arrived at the home. According to Bugha, it was de-escalated pretty quickly as one of the officers who arrived at the house knew who they were.
Of all the idiotic things that people on the internet do, swatting is one of the most selfish, careless, and moronic. For those who unfamiliar with the term, it’s when someone places a call to emergency services to inform them they need to raid a home in force. This call brings forth the police’s specialized swat team to arrive at the situation. The act is a massive waste of resources, placing undue stress of law enforcement officers who come believing its a dangerous situation, and puts people at the residence at risk.
In 2017, a swatting over a Call of Duty game led to a man getting killed by police. The person responsible for the swatting received 20 years in jail. Depending on where they live, swatters can face a multitude of charges if caught, even if nobody is hurt.
