Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Parkland Survivor David Hogg Responds To His Home Being 'Swatted' By Malicious Pranksters

Parkland Survivor David Hogg Responds To His Home Being 'Swatted' By Malicious Pranksters
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The home of David Hogg, the student survivor of February's shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida, was subject to a vicious prank on Tuesday. Hogg's response was impressively professional.


The Broward County Sheriff's Office received a call Tuesday morning that Hogg's home had been "swatted" — a prank caller claimed there was an active hostage situation at the Hogg residence, prompting law enforcement officials to dispatch an armada of fire and rescue crews.

Hogg and his mother are currently in Washington as he receives the RFK Human Rights award for his activist work on gun control.

Hogg, who heard about the prank through a friend, responded to the swatting in a phone interview with ABC affiliate Local 10. Hogg and his fellow student activists have been victimized by right-wing extremists in the four months since the school shooting, including government officials and conservative media pundits. But Hogg isn't letting the haters stand in his way of pushing for gun safety reform.

"I think it's really a distraction from what we're trying to fix here, which is the massive gun-violence epidemic in this country," Hogg told reporter Liane Morejon. He added the incident is "evidence of the fact of how many people are trying to stop us from what we're trying to do, which is stop these kids from dying."

"There's people trying to distract from what we're trying to push here, which is the March For Our Lives Road To Change. And I want people to know, like, we're just trying to advocate for change. There's going to be people against it and always will be, but we're going to keep going no matter what. Nothing will stop us."

Hogg's neighborhood swarmed with tactical teams following the prank call, which left residents of the community extremely unsettled.

"Today, we're walking -- we're going for a walk, and we saw some helicopters here, so we're like, 'Oh my God. What's going on?'" neighbor Marcia Marques said. "We are still trying to overcome everything because everything is very difficult, but that episode made us feel more attentive."

"Two police cars, two motorcycles. We should be doing better," Courtney Keisen a Stoneman Douglas student, said. "Something like this shouldn't happen a lot."

Hogg later tweeted that he "could use a chocolate chip muffin" following the news.

He also expressed gratitude for his followers' ongoing support.

More from News

Screenshot of Stephen Colbert
CBS

Stephen Colbert Makes Somber Plea To Americans In Wake Of Charlie Kirk's Death

Late-night host Stephen Colbert had a somber message for Americans as he addressed the assassination of far-right activist Charlie Kirk, stressing that "political violence only leads to more political violence."

Kirk died after an unidentified gunman shot him in the neck as he—ironically enough—mocked victims of gun violence at an event in Utah Valley State University. Kirk's murder has galvanized the far-right, with President Donald Trump and his surrogates claiming without evidence that rhetoric from Democrats is responsible for Kirk's death.

Keep ReadingShow less
a woman sunbathing on rocks.
a person sitting on a towel on a beach
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

People Share The Weirdest Flexes They Heard Someone Say With A Straight Face

It is never attractive to gloat.

Even so, some people can't help but brag, or "flex" as it is sometimes known, about certain accomplishments or attributes.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @thedowntheredoc's TikTok video
@thedowntheredoc/TikTok

TikToker Hilariously Calls Out Target After Champion Pants Feature Awkwardly-Placed Front Pleat

Sometimes you can just tell when something was designed *for* women, but was not actually designed *by* women.

Take, for instance, the new pleated pants available at Target from the Champion clothing line. While there's nothing wrong with pleated pants and they certainly have a suitable spot in the workplace, the latest rendition of Champion pleated pants are, shall we say, NSFW.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @kaicutch's Instagram video
@kaicutch/Instagram

Woman Flips Her Car After Belting Out Ironic Britney Spears Lyric In Wild Viral Video

Whether we want to admit it or not, we've all had our fair share of carpool karaoke and maybe even imagined our car as our own personal recording studio.

But TikToker and Instagrammer Kaitlynn McCutcheon may have gotten too into her performance of Britney Spears' classic, "Hit Me Baby, One More Time," when the road and her car both said, "Bet."

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from ​@lynnshazeen's TikTok video
@lynnshazeen/TikTok

Woman Goes Viral After Revealing How Her Obsession With Matcha Landed Her In The Hospital

Let's be honest: Too much of anything isn't good for us. It's all about the balance!

But the media and social media trends have taught us that certain things are really good for us, encouraging us to be like the "very mindful and very demure" girls and take care of ourselves. One such example is drinking more matcha, especially if you really like coffee or think you have a caffeine addiction.

Keep ReadingShow less