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Rep. Tom Emmer says ‘swatters’ targeted his Wright County home
In a social media post, the sixth district representative says what happened to him is part of a larger effort targeting elected officials nationwide.
DELANO, Minn. — Editor’s note: The video above first aired on Sept. 22, 2022.
U.S. Congressman Tom Emmer says his home was the target of a “swatting” prank Saturday night, posting that what happened is part of a larger effort targeting elected officials.
Emmer is a fifth-term lawmaker representing Minnesota’s sixth district. He posted on his X (Twitter) account that the incident occurred Saturday night, and diverted a police presence to his home.
“Thankfully, no one was home or injured,” Emmer wrote. “I condemn this illegal abuse of police resources.”
The FBI defines swatting as a form of harassment designed to trick a law enforcement agency into sending a large police and emergency response team to an address by falsely reporting a crime or emergency. Those behind the swatting incident often use technology, such as caller ID spoofing, social engineering or calls from a burner phone to make it appear that the emergency call is coming from the victim’s phone.
KARE 11 reached out to authorities in Wright County for details on the alleged swatting incident but has not received a response. The congressman’s website says he and his wife live in Delano.
Emmer is not the only person from the political world who has been targeted in recent months. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows was swatted days after dropping Donald Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot, with a caller reporting a burglary at her home. Others who have been victimized include U.S. Senator Rick Scott, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.
Over the weekend former U.N. Ambassador and Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley shared details of a Dec. 30 swatting incident directed at her home in Kiawah Island, South Carolina. Haley said while she and her husband were not at home, but her elderly parents and a caregiver were.
“I will tell you that the last thing you want is to see multiple law enforcement officials with guns drawn pointing at my parents and thinking that something happened,” Haley shared in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday. “It was an awful situation.”
Haley says the incident “goes to show the chaos that’s surrounding our country right now.”
In the past two years, schools and places of worship across Minnesota have been targeted by swatters in what law enforcement call organized campaigns.
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The medical examiner ruled Sarah Carda’s death was a homicide by three gunshot wounds to her head.
CHISAGO COUNTY, Minn. — Just over a year since prosecutors said Mike Carda shot and killed his wife inside their Chisago County home, Carda pleaded guilty to her murder.
Carda, 40, was charged with second-degree murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and second-degree attempted murder in days following the Oct. 6 shooting death of his wife Sarah. He pleaded guilty to the two former charges Friday.
According to court documents, Carda waived his right to a pre-trial hearing, as well as a trial by judge and/or jury, with the plea.
The criminal complaint said law enforcement responded to the residence in Fish Lake Township just before noon on calls about a domestic incident. One responding officer later told investigators they could hear arguing about 40 yards from the home before a woman told them “he has a gun” as they approached the home.
According to the complaint, deputies then heard shots from inside the home, prompting a SWAT response. After many failed attempts to get Carda to surrender, prosecutors said law enforcement secured his arrest with aid from a K-9 officer.
The medical examiner ruled Sarah Carda’s death a homicide by three gunshot wounds to the head.
Carda’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 22.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence and needs help, call 800-799-7233 or text START to 88788 to be connected with someone from the National Domestic Violence Hotline. The hotline includes more options for support and identifiers of abuse on its website.
For Minnesota residents, Cornerstone MN offers resources and safe housing for domestic abuse survivors and crime victims. Call 1-866-223-1111 or chat online with the crisis hotline.
Romell Lewis was sentenced after the Aug. 2023 carjacking of a woman and her 13-year-old son in Minnetonka.
HENNEPIN COUNTY, Minn. — A man has been sentenced for violently stealing a car from a woman and her son last summer in Minnetonka as they brought groceries into their home.
Romell Roshode Lewis was sentenced to about five years in prison after being convicted of first-degree aggravated robbery.
Court documents say a woman and her 13-year-old son parked in their garage and were bringing groceries into their home when Lewis drove up to their house with several other men. When the woman confronted them, the men attacked her, and when her son tried calling the police, documents said he was dragged.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office charged Lewis in connection with nine more incidents, alleging he was connected to several other burglaries and vehicle thefts in Edina and Minnetonka. Those incidents included several that occurred in people’s driveways.
Many of those other charges have been dismissed.
The Duluth campus will switch from a two-year to four-year program next fall, with a continued emphasis on solving the rural doctor shortage.
MINNEAPOLIS — The University of Minnesota Medical School’s Duluth campus will transition next fall from a two-year program into a full four-year program, in an effort to retain more doctors in rural and Indigenous communities across the state.
Currently, the Duluth campus enrolls 65 medical students, who train at Duluth for their first two years and then transfer to the Twin Cities campus for their last two years of clinical training. The class of students entering in the fall of 2025, however, will be the first to stay in Duluth all four years.
“They’ll be Duluth students from start to finish,” said Kevin Diebel, the regional dean of the University of Minnesota Medical School’s Duluth campus. “What that will allow us to do, is to further reinforce the mission of the campus that it’s always been — which is to train individuals who have a sincere desire to address rural and Native American communities.”
As the Duluth campus grows into a four-year program, the school is also eyeing a brand-new medical school building in downtown Duluth, at a location to be determined. The university has included the $22.5 million project on a 2026 capital planning request, with a proposal to the state legislature to cover two-thirds of the costs.
If approved, the healthcare systems Essentia Health and Aspirus St. Luke’s have both offered to partner and provide space for the new medical school building.
This week, the Duluth City Council passed a resolution signaling support for the construction of the medical school building. Although council members were careful not to express a preference for either Essentia or Aspirus St. Luke’s, it appears the project would be located somewhere in the downtown medical corridor.
“We’ve had a medical school in our community for 52 years, and we want to make sure it continues to provide all the benefits we get from that, and that we grow that,” council member Arik Forsman said.
The expansion in Duluth is part of a larger effort by the University of Minnesota Medical School to grow its presence in Greater Minnesota. Next fall, the medical school will also partner with CentraCare for a new location in St. Cloud.
Between 24 new students in St. Cloud and the 65 students training for all four years in Duluth, the university is hoping to make a dent in the well-documented shortage of doctors in rural areas.
“Having that training across a continuum at these regional campuses, every year we’re going to be bringing in 89 students with a focus on trying to get them back out to those rural communities,” Diebel said. “And if we’re successful in this, these physicians have careers that can last decades. You can think about how we can potentially scale up, year over year.”
