Professional Fortnite player Cody “Clix” Conrod was reportedly swatted in the middle of a Twitch stream this past Saturday, October 26, 2019. The 14-year-old player stopped playing Epic Games’ battle royale title with his friends when he announced to them and viewers alike that “police are here,” before proceeding to confirm “I just got swatted.”
The young man’s calm demeanor, which can be heard in this Twitch clip, thankfully meant that nobody was injured in the incident. Historically, such “pranks” haven’t always ended so well. Swatting cases generally see a fraudulent call made to police that warrants an armed swat team being sent to a provided address; in 2017, this led to the innocent Andrew Finch being killed. 26-year-old Tyler R. Barriss was later sentenced to 20 years in prison as the perpetrator, with the call having been provoked by a $2 Call of Duty wager.
Clix’s teammates kept playing and eventually won the match even in his absence, then jumped into another as he rejoined the stream and apologized in advance for what he assumed would be a subpar performance on his part. That’s some serious dedication, especially with the police still being present as he returned to the game.
After things had blown over somewhat, Clix took to Twitter in order to share a simple statement on the weekend’s events: “Swatting is so disgusting, whats[sic] the point of it.”
Swatting is so disgusting, whats the point of it.
— Clix (@Clix) October 27, 2019
The swatting trend had somewhat died down recently, with many of those responsible for high-profile initial incidents receiving strict court rulings. Seemingly, however, this form of deterrent isn’t enough to stamp out the problem completely. Potentially placing the life of a 14-year-old (not to mention his neighbors, family, etc.) in danger makes this a particularly serious instance, though Clix was at least able to see the positive side of things when he revealed that he added one of the attending police officers on Snapchat.
