What in the world is going on? That might have been the question running through the mind of reality television stars Kris Jenner and Bruce Jenner when their celebrity home was raided by police on Jan. 18. CBS News Los Angeles reports the “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” stars were the victim of a hoax similar to the one actor Tom Cruise went through Thursday. The act of “Swatting” is a new social issues phenomenon that famous people are having to deal with, much to the embarrassment of local law enforcement officials who make executive decisions to raid private estates under the guise of providing star celebs protection.
While Cruise’s house was visited by Beverly Hills police and the Kardashian matron lives in Calabasas, both famous neighborhoods have been targeted by people pretending that violent crimes are in progress. California residents are used to tourists gawking at famous houses, but celebs are not used to their homes being invaded by S.W.A.T. teams with guns drawn and loaded. Especially not the famous mom of Kendall and Kylie Jenner.
Other stars who have fallen victim to police raids at their homes after authorities were tricked by prank callers include Ashton Kutcher, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, and Simon Cowell. The hoaxes may deter celebrities from purchasing homes in popular California neighborhoods if the local law enforcement officials don’t start to get a handle on determining where exactly 911 calls originate from and whether or not there is a clear and present danger.
CBS further shared:
The 911 caller, identified only as a woman, gave police an address and told them that the suspects were still inside.
“It came out as a very serious call of possibly someone shot inside the home out here in the Hidden Hills area,” reported CBS2’s Stu Mundel.
“The Malibu sheriff’s’ took this very very seriously as they do any call of that type of caliber and they came out here in force,” Mundel said.
The Jenner’s daughters Kendall and Kylie were home at the time of the police raid. Fortunately for Tom Cruise, he was not home at the time of the incident and neither was his young daughter Suri.
While law enforcement might be happy to take a look inside the homes of celebrities for gawking purposes, they ought to be made more aware of which homes are owned by people who are famous. To barge in to homes where children are present seems to be a bit reckless on the part of the officials — more than likely making the home owners feel less safe than protected by the establishment.
Fortunately, Kendall and Kylie appear to be resilient. Kendall tweeted about the incident as if it was something fairly harmless says Twitchy, a celeb gossip source who shared screen captures of their Tweets and reported on them.
But the tweet Kendall shared was a bit problematic. Knowing the family’s penchant for drumming up publicity by getting involved in celebrity scandals, could the two celebrity teens have drummed up the whole incident as a ruse to get their famous parents attention? It is a question the authorities really ought to be asking — as the female voice who called 911 and reported the fictitious could have easily been one of them or a family friend.