81-year-old Minecraft streamer swatted while raising money for grandson's cancer treatment
Overview & Key Takeaways
GrammaCrackers says she's 'Never had that much attention in my life.'
GrammaCrackers, an 81-year-old Minecraft streamer raising money for her grandson's cancer treatment, fell victim to a swatting recently, with numerous police cars, SWAT trucks, and officers appearing at her home as she slept (via TheGamer).
"I was asleep," recounted the streamer in a video posted after the experience. "And these policemen came in the door… and the cop walked me out, and I didn't know what was going on." In a photo from the streamer's Ring doorbell camera, three armoured police officers can be seen standing around her door.
Although swatting—the act of placing a fake 911 call in order to get police to dispatch armed SWAT officers to someone's home—is a monumentally nasty and dangerous practice which can result in people getting killed, GrammaCrackers is relatively phlegmatic about her experience. "It was kind of fun. It was!" said the streamer.
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"My grandkid and my kid, they were hugging me—you know, you can't get that much attention normally. I was getting all kinds of hugs, I was really eating it up! It was kind of fun."
The streamer was briefly detained by officers as the situation was worked out: "I got to ride in a police car to my apartment, and then it was all over. So I thought, 'Well, I gotta go to bed.' So I took an ibuprofen and went to bed."
Per the recollection of GrammaCrackers' family, the police arrived in full force, with 20 police cars, five SWAT vehicles, and drones flying over her house. "I have never had that much attention in my life," laughed the streamer.
Which is, you have to admit, a very charming and funny response to the situation, but it's worth remembering how easily the whole thing could have resulted in a horrible tragedy, as these things have before. GrammaCrackers continues to stream, and is live (though away from her keyboard), at the time of writing.
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