Former Minneapolis mayoral candidate confirms ‘swatting’ incident
By Crime Watch MN, February 10, 2022
NOTE: Swatting is the practice of harassment by making prank calls to police with the objective of sending swarms of law enforcement to an address.
A former Minneapolis mayoral candidate and community activist confirmed on Thursday that his family was victim to a ‘swatting’ prank and called it part of a “targeted” harassment incident.
About 5:45 p.m. Thursday, police and two EMS rigs were dispatched on a report of a shooting on the 1700 block of Logan Avenue South in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis MN, according to police dispatch audio.
As the squads were responding, the dispatcher indicated to police that the call had not come directly to 9–1–1, that it was transferred to the 9–1–1 call center from a 3–1–1 administrative phone line, the City of Minneapolis’ general information call center.
The dispatcher indicated that the person had said they had killed their mom.
One responding officer indicated that he was on the phone with the resident of the home who indicated that nothing was going on. Police continued to the residence and met a party outside of the home. Police proceeded to check the home and confirmed that no one was harmed and called the report of a shooting “unfounded.”
After we posted on Twitter about the incident and the fact that it was likely a “swatting” incident, the homeowner, Cam Winton, commented in the thread saying that it was, indeed, a swatting incident.
Winton ran for Minneapolis mayor in 2013, among a field of 35 candidates, and ultimately lost to Betsy Hodges.
Most recently, Winton has formed a non-profit organization called Minneapolis Safety Initiative, which was formed as “an entity to enter into a buyback contract to deploy additional MPD officers throughout the entire Lowry Hill neighborhood,” according to its website. Meaning, the organization is soliciting donations from neighborhood residents to fund extra patrols in the Lowry Hill neighborhood. The shifts would be filled by off duty officers who patrol in uniform and in a Minneapolis police squad car.
The funds go through the City of Minneapolis which administrates payments to officers performing off duty work. The police buyback contracts are not unusual and have been utilized by other neighborhoods to fund extra patrols or by businesses who utilize off duty officers at busy entertainment venues.
On its website, Minneapolis Safety Initiative acknowledges the MPD staffing shortage and the dramatic increase in crimes like armed robberies and carjackings happening across the city, which have significantly risen in areas of the city’s 5th Precinct, including Uptown and Lowry Hill over the last 12 to 18 months.
We reached out to Winton for further comment on the incident and to ask whether he thinks he was specifically targeted for some reason. Winton provided the following response:
“Speaking only for myself, not for any other person or entity: Whoever prank called 911 tonight to make a fake report of violent crime at my home address took other actions simultaneously to harass me and my family members, illustrating that this incident was targeted, not random. If some radical is upset that I stand for public safety, then I wear their disapproval as a badge of honor. To all fellow residents of the city who want peace and safety: let’s all strengthen our resolve to keep building the coalition that’s standing up for order and staring down disorder at every turn. Tonight’s events only strengthened my resolve to do my part.”
Winton also posted the following response on our Facebook post about the incident.
We will update if we become apprised of any developments in this case or if we learn that any suspects have been identified.
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