Twitch Streamer’s Home Raided By Police Due To ‘Swatting’ Incident, FBI Investigating

On Thursday, February 5, Joshua Peters was streaming Runescape to approximately 600 viewers (of his 60,000 followers). The session was interrupted by a knock on the 27-year-old's door. The police were at his home, armed and prepared for a much more hostile situation than the Peters family settling in for the evening.

Peters, a veteran of the United States Air Force who streams under the user name Koopatroopa787, was removed from his home at gunpoint, along with his family. “I heard something upstairs, and it was pretty late,” Peters told us. “Then I heard someone run down the steps, and it was my mother. She said, ‘The cops are here! Do you know anything about this?’”

Before walking away from his camera, Peters told his audience about the police visit. Once upstairs, police entered and his family was escorted out.

“Our hands were in the air. We let the police in (slowly, though),” he says. “They told us through the door to keep our hands up.”  

Peters tells us he saw someone in his stream’s chat feed post his address prior to the incident, but opted not to engage as it might motivate someone to take just this type of action. Despite that, ten police cars were in front of Peters’ house and seven armed officers entered the home. 

“They had their guns pointed at us and it got hostile super quickly,” Peters says. “They had my entire family face-down on the ground. They had just pointed all their guns at my little brother.” When he told the officers that he is a Twitch streamer and this was likely a prank, the situation eased.

At that point, the Peters family was allowed to get up. The officers apologized for the situation. “They were shook up,” Peters says. “They were just as embarrassed as we were. They felt really bad.”

Afterward, Peters posted a video to his viewership to let them know that he was okay. During the stream, he broke down as he discussed the situation that the malicious prankster put his 10-year-old brother through.

We confirmed the incident with the St. Cloud police department, which also told us that the matter is under investigation in cooperation with federal authorities. “It’s an active case for us, so we’re not releasing any details,” says Lieutenant Jeff Oxton of the St. Cloud, Minnesota Police Department. “What we have done is acknowledged that we had an incident and we are using all the resources to investigate and hold whomever was responsible for this accountable for it. That includes us working with our federal counterparts.”

As for Peters, he’s hopeful that whomever did this realizes how dangerous this type of hoax (called “swatting”) can be. “I just hope whoever did this didn’t realize that I was with my family and that there are children here.”

[Source: New York Daily News]

Our Take
I don’t typically like to report swatting stories, but with the knowledge that this is being seriously investigated at both the federal and local levels, the message is clear. Swatting is a crime, and you are likely to face serious repercussions.

Just last week, the Chicago Sun-Times reported on the story of Brandon Wilson, a 19 year old accused of multiple incidents of swatting. Wilson was arrested and charged with computer tampering, intimidation, computer fraud, identity theft, and disorderly conduct. The FBI continues to investigate.

Wilson faces up to five years in prison.

The short version is simple. If you do this, you are likely to get caught and face jail time.