The celebrity chef is the latest high profile victim of a swatting incident, in which someone calls in a fake crime at a specific location in order to trigger a massive law enforcement response. Photo: Gordon Ramsay/Instagram
Gordon Ramsay was swatted Tuesday (April 22) night, but wasn’t home when first responders swarmed his Los Angeles residence after the fake alert, according to a Wednesday report.
Cops responded to calls about a shooting at Ramsay’s Bel Air home around 8:45 p.m. Tuesday, TMZ reported. However, they arrived to find a nonexistent scene.
Though the caller reported a gunman opening fire on Ramsay’s mansion, nothing was disturbed inside or outside the house, according to TMZ. Neighbours confirmed that nothing was amiss.
Ramsay is the latest high profile victim of a swatting incident, in which someone calls in a fake crime at a specific location in order to trigger a massive law enforcement response.
While no one was home in Ramsay’s case, a couple swatting incidents have been deadly since the practice became popular in the mid-2010s.
Responding police officers fatally shot an innocent Kansas man in 2017, and a Tennessee man died of a heart attack when cops surrounded his home in 2020.
The practice is particularly common at celebrity residences in Southern California.
Nicki Minaj’s home was swatted two weeks ago; Jennifer Aniston was targeted in September 2024, and Arnold Schwarzenegger was swatted on Thanksgiving 2024.
Streaming star Kai Cenat was swatted so frequently in November 2024 that he worked out a deal with local police to call him first in case something is reported at his residence. – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
