Warning: The following linked clips contain strong language. they are only included for the context of the article.

Livestreaming is a questionable hobby to take up when there are so many downsides. As I’ve previously done it for eight straight hours, I can attest that it does become a bit of a long endeavor to uphold. Sometimes you’ll be engrossed in the game and don’t want to stop because the story is getting interesting or you’re stuck at one point trying to beat a boss. It was frightening enough the time I streamed for eight hours straight then discovered that my entire street had been closed, with the rumor that heavily armed police entered my neighbor’s house. I don’t believe I could deal with that happening to me, however.

That being said, Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf, the 16-year-old Fortnite champion has had to deal with just that over the weekend. It has become a common occurrence to use the term “to swat” as a verb when speaking about Livestreaming. To be swatted is to have fully armed police in heavy-duty body armor break down your door. In some cases, this has led to arrests, and in one instance in 2017, the death of a 28-year-old man. Earlier that same year, a sleeping 20-year-old man from Maryland was shot in the head and chest with rubber bullets in response to a terrorist hoax. Some of these instances are quickly defused. Some, however, are not.

A clip of the moment Giersdorf is told of the swatting, tells the people he’s playing with, and is subsequently ignored. Giersdorf then leaves his stream alone for several minutes, dying in-game, and leaving his friends perplexed as to why he left. Luckily for Giersdorf, his dad partially defused the situation and a local officer, who was nearby, knew of the family (as Giersdorf later states).

In this second clip, Giersdorf returns to find his team has won their game. However, this time when Giersdorf says he’s been swatted, his friends listen. In this clip, Giersdorf laughs off being shot by saying, “What if I had just got popped?” As I’ve already said, the situation was luckily defused by a local officer knowing the family.

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