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Fortnite: Teenage World Cup Solos Champion Is Swatted During Live Stream

"That's scary."

89 Comments

After his recent win at the Fortnite World Cup Solos Championship, 16-year-old Kyle "Bugha" Giersdorf has had a lot of attention focused on him - not all of it positive. During a recent Fortnite: Battle Royale session that the young member of the Sentinels esports team was livestreaming, he was interrupted after being "swatted," as armed police showed up at his home apparently due to a false report.

The pro player was streaming Fortnite when the police arrived in the middle of a game. In footage of the incident, Bugha is interrupted by his father telling him there are armed police at the door, to which he asks, "I got swatted?" This forced the teenager to leave for around 10 minutes before he returns to tell his friends and fellow pros--Ghost Gaming's Timothy "Bizzle" Miller and FaZe Clan's Danny "Dubs" Walsh--what happened. "They come in with guns, bro," he explains. "They literally pulled up, holy s***. That's scary."

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"Swatting" is a form of criminal harassment whereby a false report is filed with the police in the hopes of dispatching armed officers to a person's address. The dangerous hoax has gained unfortunate popularity within the gaming community, most notably on streaming platforms where victims like Bugha are targeted.

Fortunately, the World Cup Winner avoided anything serious happening, thanks in some part to one of the attending officers recognising Bugha due to living in the same neighbourhood.

Others haven't been quite so lucky. A 2017 dispute over Call of Duty led to a "swatting" incident in which a 28-year-old man was shot and killed by police. The man who made the false call was later sentenced to 20 years in prison.

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gunnyninja

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Edited By gunnyninja

This is why I don't want people to know who I am online. I never give out my username on Facebook...

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santinegrete

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I hope they get the sucker that commited this felony.

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Pupchu

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@smartred2019: i think you should stop spamming

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SmartRed2019

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@Pupchu: It is not spam :) I mean... not so big. It is the site of friend :D

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deactivated-5f4e2292197f1

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That is messed up.

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el_swanno

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Isn’t SWATting a crime now with a 10 year prison sentence attached?

They’re kicking-in the wrong doors if you ask me.

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Pupchu

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how much lower can mankind sink?

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esqueejy

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@Pupchu: The rabbit hole has no bottom.

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DoubleM-K

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It seems to be way to easy to get swatted....

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mattsaroni24

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In a country with a gun problem, it makes sense that the kids are sending armed forces as a prank. You people are insane.

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dashaka

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Edited By dashaka

@mattsaroni24: Nah, the psychopaths that are swatting are, but go ahead and stereotype an entire country by the acts of a select few. ??

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dashaka

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@vaglips: lmao, you clearly haven’t seen the atrocities of literally every other country on the face of the planet, since the beginning of time. It’s not the US, it’s people, people of any nation will always be scum, and you sound like one of them. Your ignorance is off the charts. Read a book.

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deactivated-64efdf49333c4

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@mattsaroni24: It's not limited to the US.

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Litchie

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@Barighm: Nice defence.

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deactivated-5f7e879bcd9fa

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@Barighm: its predominantly the US, the stats are there for everyone to see. The US is literally the only western country in the Top 10 and Top 20 deaths related to firearms stats, you manage to out-slay most South American countries despite thinking your country is more civilised than somewhere like Cuba or Colombia. Disturbing the think you have less chance of being shot dead in almost any other country OTHER than the US. If it wasn't such a serious topic I'd laugh, it's actually unbelievable as an Australian to feel so connected to the US in so many ways yet see how regressive the gun culture is. How many mass shootings are happening per year now, is it around 20? So every 2-3 weeks you can expect some psycho with easy access to guns to just walk into a crowded place and open fire. Holy s*it, if you think its normal at all to see this stuff happening then you're jaded, it's not f*cking normal. Something has to change there, USA can do better than putting up with this and letting the NRA and corrupt politicians allow this to keep happening.

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spartanx169x

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@zaprct: would you prefer they use trucks to kill people like they did in Europe a year or so ago? What about fire? Would fire be a preferred choice like what was done in Japan just a month or two ago?

If a person or people want to kill people they will find s very effective way of doing so, guns or no guns.

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spartanx169x

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@vaglips: Somebody comes into my home is getting shot and will be leaving on a stretcher being carried by two other people. Tell me Sparky exactly how do you protect your self ? you gonna call the police when somebody is trying to kill you? You think the police can protect you? Or are you so tough you can take on all bad guys barehanded?

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deactivated-5f7e879bcd9fa

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@spartanx169x: one offs that are much rarer and usually relate to foreign terrorists. Completely different to some messed up kid with no religious agenda just wanting to shout up his high school which for some reason happens all the time in the US.

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spartanx169x

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@zaprct: I'm sorry but you missed my point. Anybody, literally anybody with a half of a brain can find multiple ways to kill multiple people quite easily if they are so inclined. There motivations are quite irrelevant. The Japanese guy killed 30 people with FIRE for the sole reason he thought the studio was stealing his work. It was an act of revenge not terrorism. I will say, I would bet a year's salary that the kid in El Paso was on SSRI drugs and if so, should have been in a mental hospital.

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SMOUCHE_MOLE

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@zaprct: Nice agenda. . . Keep your mouth shut and remain in gun free-ish Australia then. . . Common problems of progressives like you are your authoritarian, know-what’s-best attitudes where you can’t just stoooop and instead feel the need to shove your thoughts, laws, and beliefs down everyone else’s throats and lives.

In a world where many countries made firearms illegal, no shit we’d be in the top 10s and 20s for firearms deaths, as there’s little competition for that title dumbass.

You see, we have a constitution and bill of rights here. Disagree and hate it or not, but the second amendment protects American citizens’ rights to own firearms.

Any fucked up person wishing to kill and do harm will find a way. In that case, we should ban anything that may be used to easily kill another? So, cars then? Knives? Blunt objects? Or is it just projectiles that bother you? Fireworks? Nails? Nailguns? Oops it has “gun” in its name so it probably makes the list huh?

Go suck yourself to your utopian fantasy

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SMOUCHE_MOLE

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@vaglips: rofl okay vagina lips. The backbone of morality here huh?

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deactivated-5f7e879bcd9fa

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@smouche_mole: oh I am sucking myself to my utopia and it ain’t fantasy. On six figures without a degree, free healthcare for everyone and the chance of me being shot up is basically non existent. Why wouldn’t anyone want that same life? I’m not bragging I’m saying this is what the US should be considering many claim it’s the greatest nation on earth. And IT COULD BE, dont you want it to be better?

Why do you assume I’m left wing? All of the above benefits I have as an Australian are resulting from bipartisan policies from both parties. Our right wing parties aren’t any less extreme than yours and our left wing ones are probably even more so than yours. Yet at some point in our history they managed to decide what’s best for the people.

You say to me keep living my utopian fantasy? I say I pray for you and all Americans, I hope none of you will die to any more of this senseless bull*hit. But we know that it’ll happen again.

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xZedZdeDx

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Edited By xZedZdeDx

@smouche_mole: You seem angry. You doin okay? Also, you took the 2nd amendment out of context. Everyone always forgets the whole "well-regulated militia" part.

The Second Amendment does not guarantee the right of any and all citizens to own any and all kinds of guns. In fact, it demands, in the name of national security, that we regulate it.

Also the whole we have guns so of course we have gun deaths argument is flawed. That's like saying we have cars so of course we have car deaths but at the same time lets not do everything we can to reduce car deaths. Let's get rid of license requirements and seat belts and speed limits... So in a way, you're right, we have lots of guns so we are going to have gun deaths. This is why we need rules and regulations and need to do as much as we can to minimize gun deaths.

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xZedZdeDx

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Edited By xZedZdeDx

@vaglips: See @smouche_mole like this guy definitely shouldn't be allowed to have a gun. But seriously @vaglips judging from your comment history you are either a seriously messed up individual, or just a pathetic troll. Not sure which one is sadder... Humans are humans no matter what country they're from and anyone who wishes bad on someone else is the lowest form of scum on the planet.

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SMOUCHE_MOLE

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@xZedZdeDx: Yea I can agree with that

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SMOUCHE_MOLE

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@xZedZdeDx: Silly me to think I could have a rational discussion on American’s gun rights in a gaming forum. I already know it’s an uphill climb since it’s so popular to be liberal, left, socialist, etc. these days. . .

I keep a constitution with me nearly at all times and I’m aware of the second amendment in its entirety.

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

Whether it sounds crazy to you or not, this latter part was to help protect the people from a tyrannical government as the founders were directly affected by such a group. . .

How is it flawed that guns would factor into the count of death by guns, particularly in places where they are more abundant?

It should be obvious that a place where guns are legal would have more guns available than those places where they are illegal, and this would factor into any sort of death count. While I haven’t crunched the numbers, not sure there’s very many other countries with populations as large as the US AND have legalized gun ownership. In other words, I’d imagine there’s little competition on these lists.

No one said we shouldn’t look for ways to reduce gun deaths. My point was that a crazy person is a crazy person, and you cannot take LOGIC and try to apply it to something ILLOGICAL.

And to your points on car deaths and doing everything we can to reduce them, well I’ll tell you now that we definitely are not doing all we can, nor am I saying we necessarily should. . . Here we go again with the mighty pendulum of freedom versus security, and one cannot increase without sacrificing some of the other. Did you know that radios were almost illegal to use/operate in vehicles when they were first introduced? As crazy at that sounds today, there was fear then that too many accidents would be caused by those preoccupied with changing the dials and even being distracted by the music flowing into their ears. It’s the whole, well this person can’t function/drive a car while also listening to music so I guess we’ll just have to make it illegal for everyone argument. . . As a matter of fact, car deaths have risen regardless of safety measures in place due to progressives’ favorite EPA and standards. Due to fuel economy standards and the requirements set in place by the EPA, we’re all driving cars with far more plastic, carbon, fiberglass versus straight up metal. Those clunky metal vehicles we used to drive actually helped save lives. Instead we’re trying to supplement this increased lack of safety through other means like airbags and seat belts, but still, arguably less safe today bc of progressive policies.

And back to the guns, time and time again it’s been proven that areas restricting gun access in America are targeted more often than those that permit them. . .

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xZedZdeDx

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Edited By xZedZdeDx

@smouche_mole: Wait, you keep a copy of the constitution with you at all times? That's kind of weird. My point is not outright banning, just reasonable regulation and restriction. Again not ALL people need access to ALL GUNS. Also, can you give a single example where in the 250+ mass shooting so far this year a shooter was stopped by someone (not law enforcement) with a gun? I live in CO where guns laws are very lax. I even have a concealed carry permit and it was very easy to get. Yet we have a pretty high number of shootings in our state and not one has been stopped by a good guy with a gun.

Oh, and on a different note, those clunky all-metal cars were not safer. The plastic, carbon, fiberglass stuff that cars are made of now are designed to break and absorb the impact so your body doesn't have to. Cars are safer today than they ever have been. In fact, car crash fatalities have been cut in half since 1984 thanks to these improvements. Check any safety stats out there to double-check that. (like this one: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimgorzelany/2018/05/11/newer-cars-much-safer-than-older-ones-nhtsa-says/#489dee752104)

Also check out this crash test and you will see why all-metal cars are dangerous: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPF4fBGNK0U

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SMOUCHE_MOLE

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Edited By SMOUCHE_MOLE

@xZedZdeDx: Okay. Not gonna have a pissing contest over what constitutes “weird” in zedzde’s mind. . .

Why are you limiting your question to only a little over half a year’s time? Dilemma in your question is that a “mass shooting” prevention would mean the act could never be labeled as such if it never reached those numbers. And as I’ve said before, those going on these sprees particularly choose places of least resistance, those including the “gun free zone[s]”. So you have law abiding citizens doing as the name implies and not keeping their guns (if they own any) on them, and then you have criminals taking advantage and carrying forth and doing as their name implies. . . I’ve seen the NRA come up here in debate for instance. How many “mass shootings” have occurred at any of these group’s meetings, yearly conventions, etc? If they don’t happen, then you’re not gonna find a statistic on them nor when they’re prevented.

And if you want to bring up “flawed” like you did previously, your linked Forbes article takes a 5 year period and attempts to compare/contrast it’s findings to vehicles built 1984 and prior. So in essence, since cars were created? So 5 years versus over half a century? Or at least, since data for fatalities through cars was first collected?

Take those same older model more metallic cars and add the safety features of today and tell me which is safer. Surely it’s not the lighter more fuel efficient models.

That article pointed to NHTSA as reference, but according to a 2003 NHTSA study, when a vehicle is reduced by 100 pounds the estimated fatality rate increases as much as 5.63% for light cars weighing less than 2,950 lbs, 4.70% for heavier cars weighing over 2,950 lbs and 3.06 percent for light trucks.

A 2001 National Academy of Sciences panel found that constraining automobile manufacturers to produce smaller and lighter vehicles in the 70s and early 80s “probably resulted in an additional 1,300 to 2,600 traffic fatalities in ‘93”. The safety standards of today are just finally catching up to the negative effects the CAFE standards put in place in the 70s.

A 1999 USA Today analysis of crash data found since CAFE standards went into effect in ‘78, 46,000 people died in crashes they otherwise would have survived had they been in bigger, heavier vehicles.

A Harvard-Brookings study found that CAFE resulted in a 500 lbs weight reduction of an average car which as a result put occupants at a 14-27% greater risk of traffic death.

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knifebeater

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@smouche_mole: I fully agree. While as tragic and high-profile as these mass shootings are, the fact remains that they are statistical outliers, and when you rule-out deaths by suicide, gun violence has actually been on the decline in the U.S. for a while now. Conversely, we can take a look at a place like like London (though it's a much smaller population) where firearms are not nearly as available but knife violence has been escalating year to year at an alarming rate.

My point is simply that bad people are always going to do bad things... especially when they know there's a low chance of good people being around who can stop them.

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Ormgaard

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The prank is beyond lame and should be punished hard , but what kind of police officer "accidently" shoots and kills a innocent person?? only in America i guess so many trigger happy people there.

But then again according to Trumph we all just need more guns to be more safe, sad downward spiral.

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Ultima_Dragoon

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@ormgaard: Imagine your job is to bust down the doors of dangerous people armed with who knows what. I think you would be a little bit paranoid when your life is on the line.

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XenomorphAlien

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Edited By XenomorphAlien

@ormgaard: You know this is the SWAT team and not your everyday cops right? People that are literally trained for life threatening situations and could very well need to kill?

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deactivated-64efdf49333c4

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@ormgaard: Again, this is not limited to the US. It happens in other countries, too. And, yes, the penalty for SWATTING can very severe: potentially life in prison. I don't know what the penalty is in Canada since the only incidents I found that led to convictions were of minors.

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Willowvale75

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What the hell is wrong with people? Here I thought GAMING fans and people were decent and here we are trying to show the world, that gaming doesn't lead to shootings and stuff. Then you have these idiots who take this stuff so seriously and are just as mental as the kids with guns. FFS.

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Thanatos2k

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@willowvale75: Are people who enjoy watching other people play Fortnite really gaming fans?

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skippert

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@Thanatos2k: This is the part I never get. Why are people watching a casual stream of someone playing Fortnite? When you could be playing yourself (not that I enjoy Fortnite...) Its a joke if you ask me.

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santinegrete

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@skippert: I ask myself that all the time. Why people won't be playing the games themselves?!

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TacticaI

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@Thanatos2k: Surreal isn’t it? This is where gaming is now.

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deactivated-64efdf49333c4

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@willowvale75: This is not really a gaming thing, but an anonymity thing, it's just game streamers are the most prominent. The Canadian incidents of SWATTING I mentioned above weren't connected to gaming.

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TTB1

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This is a dangerous and not funny "prank". It should be classified as a 3rd-degree felony. That way just the act is a punishable crime, and if anyone dies it's felony murder.

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