Markee Dragon, YouTube sensation and entreprenuer, swatted yesterday

Anyone who watches Markee Dragon -- a YouTube sensation and now EVE Online gamer -- was swatted yesterday on the launch day of the new YouTube Gaming livestreaming service.

http://siliconangle.com/blog/2015/0...ragon-swatted-on-first-day-of-youtube-gaming/

The entire ordeal had him and his 22-year-old son handcuffed and taken out of their home while MarkeeDragon was streaming an eight hour marathon of EVE Online. This is also not the first time a popular livestreamer has been hit by swatting.

My house is not a shouting house, the only time anyone shouts in my house is to tell a cat to get off the counter. So I went out into the hallway to see what was happening, and as I left the room, there were officers pointing guns at me. They handcuffed me, and had me kneel outside, and they cleared the whole house. My son who was asleep, he’s 22, but they handcuffed him too. Fortunately they didn’t handcuff my younger children, but I spent 15 -20 minutes in handcuffs, while they figured out what was happening. One of the officers was friends with my son, and as I went on to explain what swatting was, he agreed with me. The older officers had not heard of ‘swatting’.

It all worked out ok, but someone had called the local police saying that I had killed my wife, was holding my children hostage, and had a pipe-bomb ready to kill myself. And these weren’t just handguns they were using, they were assault rifles. And things can go wrong very quickly. Fortunately, I have experience with law enforcement, and knew exactly what to do. So now the local authorities now that I stream, and troll calls may happen, and to not take them seriously. I had never considered myself being swatted before, and of course, it happens today when I am streaming to a wider audience.

http://www.twitch.tv/markeedragon/v/13137147

In the video featured, you can hear Thor, my Icelandic friend, talking about how I received a phone call 15 minutes before the police arrived at my house, and you can hear Thor say that whoever called me was probably the person responsible, making sure they had the right number. But of course, the media heard of it, and they arrived too. It was an uncomfortable evening, but it takes a lot to shake me. At least the local authorities are now aware of the issue, and hopefully it wont happen again.​

Transcript above is available at EVEnews24.com.

http://evenews24.com/2015/08/28/first-day-of-youtube-gaming-markeedragon-gets-swatted/

This sort of behavior is scary, criminal, and very dangerous. Although every reported incident of swatting has gone without injury, it may not stay that way. In the United States police forces deploy often with poor due diligence and have in the past shot and killed innocent people while breaking into houses. That swatting so far has ended in no injuries is fortunate (and likely the outcome because most individuals swatted are well off and semi-aware of their surrounds.)