Wisconsin Man Says He’s Been Swatted Six Times After Norm MacDonald Tweet
A Milwaukee man who is known for his science fiction writing and contributions to the Science Channel has revealed that he's been swatted by police six times since online trolls began targeting him over a tweet about Norm MacDonald.
Patrick Tomlinson has been outspoken on Twitter about how many times police have turned up at his house over the last couple of years since his tweet gained some virality in 2020.
Tomlinson's tweet from 2018 was a simple personal opinion about comedian Norm MacDonald, where he wrote "Hot take, I've never thought Norm MacDonald was funny and was pretty sure all my comedy friends who did were either nuts or screwing with me."
Since the tweet, Tomlinson has said death threats coming to him online and now the swatting incidents are attempts to scare him by the trolls.
'It's a way to try and trick the police into being your executioners,' Tomlinson told Daily Mail. 'You don't have to keep doing the bidding of the people whose stated goal is to kill us.'
The first swatting incident happened in May of 2020, after police were notified of a post on Craigslist that suggested there were children in danger at his home.
'We got a very angry banging at the door,' Tomlinson said, and described how armed police shouting 'Where are the children?' showed up at his house at 11pm one night.
Tomlinson told WISN 12 that somebody impersonating him called the police to say that he had found his wife in bed with another man, and had shot them both dead using an AR-15.
'Used my name. Used this address. Said that I had just killed my wife and, come get me. And they did,' he said.
In this incident, Tomlinson said officers pulled him from his bed in the middle of the night by officers, and put on the front porch in handcuffs while wearing nothing but his bathrobe while police cleared the rest of his home.
The swatting has become such an often occurrence that he and his wife have put up a sign on their front door, saying how many days its been since they've been swatted by the Milwaukee Police Department.
The most recent swatting of Tomlinson's house was October 2nd, with the prior fifth time being last week.
Tomlinson shared a still shot from his October 2nd raid, showing officers moving onto his porch armed with ballistic shields, and rifles, prepared for a dangerous situation that didn't exist.
At some point, before Norm MacDonald's passing (September 14, 2021), he recorded a Cameo, certainly not knowing that Patrick was in the situation he was in - goading on Patrick's friends who were teasing him about his opinions of MacDonald.
Is there an end in sight for Tomlinson, or will this continue until he publicly says MacDonald is funny? And is there an army of loyal MacDonald fans that are willing to have someone killed over a differing opinion?
Read more at Daily Mail