Police respond at Amy Coney Barrett home after swatting call
Police responded to a swatting call at amy coney barrett’s residence in Fairfax County, Virginia, on Wednesday evening. A Fairfax County Police Department public information officer said officers arrived at about 9:02 p.m. and quickly determined the report was fictitious.
The call came in through the department’s non-emergency line. Officers met with Barrett’s security detail, and the department said no additional police resources were used.
Fairfax County response
The police department said officers coordinated with Supreme Court Police personnel assigned to the residence. The department’s statement said the report was fictitious, and the response ended without a broader deployment.
A partial audio recording posted on X on Thursday reported a call about sounds of gunshots. Law enforcement can be heard referring to a suspicious noise at 24-hour security coverage for a high-priority resident of the county.
Barrett on the bench
Barrett was back on the bench Thursday morning with her colleagues. She read summaries of two opinions she authored and made no mention of the Wednesday incident in her remarks.
The timing places the call against a broader security backdrop for Supreme Court justices. Swatting calls use false reports of crimes such as murder, hostage situations, bomb threats, or active shooters, and the episode came after years of heightened threats against the court’s members.
Supreme Court security threats
The context includes protests outside conservative justices’ homes after the leaked Dobbs draft opinion in 2022. It also includes the arrest of one California man near Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home, where he was later charged with attempted murder.
Senator Mike Lee responded on X as the reports surfaced Thursday. He wrote, “Swatting is an attempt to get an innocent person killed—in this case, a sitting Supreme Court Justice,” and added, “The proper response will be putting the offender in prison for many, many years.”
For Barrett, the immediate consequence was a police response that ended as a false report. For the court, the episode adds another documented security alarm around justices who continue to appear in public and on the bench.
