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Kim Kardashian And Kanye West Not Victims Of Swatting Prank Call [Debunked]

By JohnThomas Didymus
Published on: 21:26 PST, Mar 4, 2017

Reports by multiple news outlets that reality star Kim Kardashian and her rapper husband Kanye West were victims of a swatting prank on Saturday, March 4, have been debunked. According to the misleading reports, a prankster called police and claimed there was a shooting at Kim and Kanye’s home following a home invasion and that a maid was killed in the shooting.

But the reports were debunked when the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) denied that it had responded to a call to Kim and Kanye’s home in Los Angeles.

Us Weekly, Hollywood Life, and a few other new websites had claimed that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West were victims of a swatting prank call on Saturday.

The reports were based on information obtained from the Southern California Monitoring Association’s (SCMA) Twitter account which uses a radio scanner to monitor police activity in the area.

On Saturday morning, the Twitter account of the SCMA carried a series of messages claiming that Kardashian’s home in Los Angeles was the subject of a “possible swatting call,” and that a maid was shot in the alleged home invasion.

“Possible SWATTING call at the Kardashian Home Ch8 108.”

“Home Invasion with suspect shot at Kim Kardashian home. Reported cleaning girl shot by suspect. Might be SWATTING call Ch8.”

The SCMA account also claimed that the caller disconnected as police officers tried to enter Kardashian’s house.

“Caller disconnected as officers entered house. Appears Kim Kardashian home is victim of SWATTING call. Officers did breach door to enter.”

But it turned out that the information from the SCMA Twitter account was mistaken. Gossip Cop reports that a source close to the Kardashians said the reports were “absolutely not true” and that the home of the reality star and rapper was not the subject of a swatting prank.

Us Weekly also later published a retraction of its original report, saying that the LAPD denied reports that they responded to a call to Kardashian’s Los Angeles home.

According to the watch commander of the West LAPD, police “did not respond to any call like this today,” and there “was no crime.”

A representative of the Kardashians also told Us Weekly that the home of the Kardashians and her husband Kanye West was not swatted. The source added that reports that police responded to a call about a shooting in the area had “nothing to do with Kim.”

However, the LAPD reportedly admitted that cops had responded to another West Los Angeles resident who called to report a “possible suspect inside [their] home with a gun.” But responding officers determined on arriving at the house that “there was no evidence of a crime,” according to Gossip Cop.

The call from the West Los Angeles resident was probably the basis of the false reports that the Kardashians were victims of a swatting call.

“[A swatting call is] where the hacker tricks 911 systems into deploying SWAT to an unsuspecting victim’s home under false pretenses.”

According to the original debunked story, police received a call about an active shooter in the Kardashian’s house. The caller claimed that a maid had been shot. Police officers immediately rushed over to the Kardashian’s home. After officers arrived at the house, they “breached the door to enter,” which means they used force to open the door and enter the house. But they found that a prankster was probably responsible for the call and that Kim and her husband had likely fallen victims of a swatting prank call.

But the SCMA tweets sparked a response on social media, with many saying that a swatting call was a cruel prank to play on Kim after her terrifying robbery experience in Paris. Armed men had broken into Kim’s apartment in central Paris while she was visiting the city for Fashion Week.

They tied her up, duct-taped her and dumped her inside her bath. They robbers made away with jewelry, including the reality star’s diamond engagement ring — worth millions of dollars.

But Kim’s mother, Kris Jenner, had been the victim of a real swatting prank call in January 2013. Police officers rushed to Bruce and Kris Jenner’s home in Calabasas, California, after receiving a prank call about a shooting in the house.

Kardashian had tweeted a reaction to the swatting prank at the time, warning that swatting was a dangerous prank that could lead to people being injured or killed.

“These prank calls are NOT funny! People can get arrested for this! I hope they find out who is behind this. It is dangerous, not a joke!”

Several other celebrities have also been targeted with swatting pranks in recent years. Police have rushed to the homes of Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Justin Timberlake, Tom Cruise, Ashton Kutcher and Lil Wayne after receiving prank calls about emergencies in the homes.

[Featured Image by Mark Piasecki/Getty Images]

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