Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley targeted in swatting incident

Authorities responded to a fake emergency at the South Carolina home of Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley last month after a man claimed to have shot a woman and threatened to harm himself at her home, according to town records obtained by Reuters.

The previously unreported "swatting" incident is among a wave of violent threats, bomb scares and other acts of intimidation against government officials, members of the judiciary and election administrators since the 2020 election that have alarmed law enforcement ahead of this year's U.S. presidential contest.

Swatting cases have surged over the past two months, targeting both allies and rivals of former President Donald Trump as he campaigns to return to the White House. The targets include figures who have publicly opposed Trump, such as Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat who barred him from her state's primary ballot. Judges and at least one prosecutor handling cases against Trump have been targeted. But Trump backers such as U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene have also faced swatting attempts.

The hoax against Haley, who is challenging frontrunner Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, occurred on Dec. 30 in the town of Kiawah Island, an affluent, gated community of around 2,000 people.

Haley's campaign declined to comment.

An unknown person called 911 and "claimed to have shot his girlfriend and threatened to harm himself while at the residence of Nikki Haley," Craig Harris, Kiawah Island director of public safety, told town officials on Dec. 30, according to an email Reuters obtained in a records request for threats to Haley's home. "It was determined to be a hoax ... Nikki Haley is not on the island and her son is with