“Don’t shoot my wife.”
Chad Katon was desperately demanding as he stood in front of his garage at 3am, staring at the barrel of his rifle.
His wife was hanging from her home in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, securing her dog in the bathroom. She raised her hand and came out, and another gun was trained in her face.
Katon once again pleaded for his wife’s safety, with an uneasy police officer at his side. He could see officers shaking and knew that in tense situations, misunderstanding could quickly fall into tragedy.
Though frightening, the incident on March 17th was no surprise to Katon. As a candid conservative and a friend of many of his previous attackers, he would have known that he could be next.
In fact, a few days ago he had expressed his concern to his wife.
“I don’t think I’m big enough (on social media), but I have to talk through this because a lot of friends are being slammed,” Katon told the Epoch Times.
Swatting is a crime that involves creating false police reports to cause heavily armed responses, often SWAT teams, at target’s homes. The assailants often call 911, claiming that an armed intruder is inside the target’s home, and shoot them and their families.
These demacalls have been increasing in recent years. All of the targets seem to have one thing in common. It’s their politics.
Katon led the national venture for veterans for the Trump Union and represented the president’s 2024 campaign. Other swatting victims include Republican politicians and conservative media personalities who have accumulated important social media followers.
With just under 50,000 followers on social media platform X, Katon wanted him to be “small” enough to fly under the radar of political swatters, but they still targeted him.
“This is an absolutely attempted murder,” Katon said. Such hoaxes said they killed others in the video game streaming community.
Fortunately, recent attacks have not resulted in injuries or deaths. But both survivors and law enforcement experts have warned that if the perpetrator of such a dangerous hoax is not arrested, it could change.
Trump’s Veterans Operations Director Chad Cuton will shake hands with then-presidential candidate Donald Trump at a campaign event held on October 4, 2024 in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Provided by Chad Katong
“Murder by a Proxy”
Just an hour and about 500 miles have separated the incident at Katon’s home from the attack on conservative writer and commentator Larry Taunton at Ray Lake in Alabama.
At about 1am local time, Tanton was awake and unable to sleep as his German shepherd Ranger had high vigilance.
“His ears are up, his fur above his shoulders are up. He’s in attack mode,” Taunton recalled to the Epoch Times.
“He thinks maybe he’s outside listening to a dog or a deer, or maybe there are rodents in the house. I don’t know.”
However, afterwards, a flashlight beam appeared at Taunton’s bedroom door, and the ranger proceeded towards the front door of the house. Pulling out his Glock, Taunton headed out into the dark kitchen. There, we saw the silhouettes of three men with a body armor totting AR-15 rifle through the window.
He did math and realized he had a great disadvantage. I don’t know if his unexpected visitor is a “villain” or a police officer, but he takes the calculated risk and flips the kitchen lights over.
At that point, the man identified himself as a police officer, and Taunton began to explain that he was likely being hit.
He later receives a call from someone who claims police were shot inside his home and learns that three armed men are “executing all of them.”
Footage from Taunton’s home security system captured the observations of one officer that the scene did not match these claims.
“This isn’t really my business, but it doesn’t look like there’s someone here who shot everyone,” the officer says, peering into the glass at Taunton’s entrance.
The caller also encouraged officers to enter the home. In fact, Taunton points out as evidence that the caller wanted more than merely inconvenient.
“This is an attempted murder on behalf of a proxy,” he said. “The police aren’t trying to kill me. They think they’re trying to save lives. But this is a coronavirus terrorist attack by people weaponizing local law enforcement as proxy assassination units.”
Taunton and Katon expressed concern that they could have caught local police officers in the shootout, even if they didn’t properly guess what was going on.
Katon pointed out that he is wary of securing his home due to the threat of death he has received in the past. If he grabbed the gun, he said, “If not police, there’s a high chance that he was injured.”
(Left) Conservative writer and commentator Larry Taunton. (Right) Taunton is filmed in the kitchen with his dog ranger. Provided by Larry Taunton
Smart movement
Joe Pagriallo, known as Joe Pags, the conservative talk show host, took a different approach on March 12 when police surrounded their home near San Antonio.
Pagliarulo said he was sitting in the office when he received the 2:21am notification from the camera.
“I thought maybe my wife was taking the dog,” Pagriallo told the Epoch Times. “I thought it might have been a branch move because something really worked out.”
However, when he checked the security footage, he saw a man dressed in tactical gear and holding a long gun by the front door.
Pagliarulo kept his gun nearby, but with a slightly simpler idea, he said his best move was to call the local sheriff’s office.
“I called 911. I think it was a clever move…and, “Are you at my house now? This is my address. This is me,” he said.
The dispatcher confirmed his suspicions. She admonished that three gunmen burst out of his front door, shot and killed a dog, and that the homeowner claimed he was hiding in a closet upstairs.
Pagliarulo assured the dispatchers that were not. He asked her to share the information with the outside officers.
Staying on line with the dispatcher, Pagliarulo negotiated a safe exit from the house. As he stepped outside, officers recognized him, increasing the tension even further.
Meanwhile, the mischievous caller was still on the phone with the sheriff’s office.
“I said, ‘Well, put him on the line, get his phone number, track him down and find out what’s going on,” Pagliarulo said.
He believes the perpetrator wanted to kill him that night. “And they might have even wanted me to take a few (officials) with me.”
The threat of public safety
The National Police Association currently recommends that others follow the example of Pagliarulo and contact local law enforcement if they think they are being warned.
“If you see the police surrounding your property, please call 911 and advise the dispatcher of the situation. Follow all instructions from law enforcement until the case is declared,” he resigned. Association spokesman Betsy Brantner Smith urged in a March 19 statement.
Smith also urged potential targets to inform local law enforcement that the attack was approaching.
“‘Swatting’ is an act of violence against both law enforcement and those targeted,” she said. “It’s designed to not only physically hurt people, but also to drive wedges between police officers and the citizens they are trying to protect.”
The call to the hoax was also a leak of police resources, separating first responders from actual emergency and putting public safety at risk, noting retired SWAT commander Jean Petrino.
“I think that’s something the public needs to recognize, that means there’s more damage done than it causes perceived inconvenient to those receiving swatting calls,” Petrino told the Epoch Times.
(Left) Betsy Brantner Smith will speak at the 2023 Young Women Leadership Summit, hosted by Turning Point USA, at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas, on June 10, 2023. Gene Petrino will train with his fellow Plantation Police Department officers in Florida on February 12, 2014. Gage Skidmore/CC by-sa 2.0, courtesy of Gene Petrino
The more deadly possibility is what Petrino is most concerned about the latest trends. To prevent future tragedy, he recommended that law enforcement send patrol officers to confirm the reliability of the call before law enforcement sends SWAT teams.
“That was the question I had every time I responded. ‘Is this a legitimate incident that we need to be there?” And sometimes they were, sometimes they were,” he said.
Petrino also said in most legitimate and important cases, police will receive not only one but multiple calls. “So, from a law enforcement perspective, dispatches need to be aware of that.”
“Uncontrollable” crime
All three swatting victims spoken by the Epoch Times were convinced they were targeting their political views.
They were not sure what they might have said to put themselves in the perpetrator’s crosshairs.
“The only theory I have… there was something I wanted to say about not sending more money to Ukraine,” Katon said.
Pagliarulo reflected the theory. He said he was “very critical” in the actions of Ukrainian President Voldy Mie Zelensky during his February visit to the White House and the amount the US spent on the Ukrainian war with Russia.
Tanton also cited an article that criticized the recently closed US International Development Agency as another possible reason for his target.
Either way, everyone agreed that the attack had to be adjusted.
Katon pointed out that unsolicited pizza delivery has plagued almost every recent victim, with most receipts having the message “from Ray Charles Green, aka Poodle.”
The calls were located over the Internet, rather than using mobile networks or landlines.
FBI Director Kash Patel (R) and National Security Director Timothy Howe testify before the permanent Select Committee on the Intelligence Email Hearing held in Washington on March 26, 2025. I drew Angerer/AFP via Getty Images
Pagliarulo said that FBI agents told him they had “having some leads” about his case, but that Caton remains unsure that anything will come from the investigation.
“I mean, I believe in this administration, but here I am, three weeks later, I haven’t spoken to an FBI agent yet,” he said.
Katon added that he would like to see the harsher penalties adopted for swatting crimes.
Katong said the law is certainly necessary, but the call is likely to continue unless someone holds it to explain.
“If we could play this guy out and make him an example, people would probably stop,” he said. “But if this appears to be an unruly crime, more people will do it to try and speak their point.”
