[GameSpot] - CoD YouTuber Drif0r Says Swatting Experience Almost Killed Him

[343iBot]

Call of Duty content creator Brad "Drif0r" Overbey uploaded a brand-new video to his YouTube channel talking about how he "almost died" when people swatted his home.

About halfway through a video titled "Low Testosterone almost killed me," Drift0r mentioned how 2019 and 2020's swattings contributed to his ongoing battle with low testosterone. He said he "almost died four or five times" as armed people approached his Texas home.

"I got swatted a couple of times last year," Drift0r starts at about the 12-minute mark. "There was an ongoing issue with harrassment. Another creator streamed one of his fans coming to my house with a ski mask and a gun in what I personally assumed was going to be an armed home invasion. Police took care of that in my front lawn, thankfully. And just a whole ton of crazy, bizarre stuff. I almost died four of five times. There were other people that were armed."

Swatting is not a new concept, originating as an offshoot of bomb threats, but it has been thrust into public consciousness in the 2010s thanks to incidents that have resulted in unnecessary deaths. Individuals call an emergency service responder--like the fire department, FBI, or police department--with false and threatening information typically regarding someone else's residence. The dispatcher then sends a lethal response to the home in question that ocassionally ends in a misunderstanding but sometimes leads to a violent aftermath. It's supposed to be a prank but the practice is really a form of criminal harrassment.

Drif0r went on to descibe a "prank" to trick him into killing an escort as part of some break-in fantasy. He later summed up the ordeal as "constant violence" against him and his family.

"Basically, for the better part of a year there was constant violence against me and my family. I worked super hard to keep it private and off of YouTube. I mean, it was like 'sleep with your AK-47 every single night' kind of situation. But finally, some of the bad people got arrested."

Drif0r said all trials have concluded and there is now nothing stopping him from making public comments about it. He hinted at planning to go deeper into the experience "in a later video."

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