Ninja’s brother, Jonathan ‘BeardedBlevins’ Blevins, has vowed to press charges after revealing he was swatted while streaming on Twitch.
With 100,000 followers on Twitch, BeardedBlevins has created a rather sizable community thanks to his various Fortnite and Just Chatting streams alongside his brother, Ninja.
Blevins doesn’t always have his famous brother on stream, though, and often plays Fortnite with many other creators.
He was doing just that on May 31, 2024, but the stream came to an end abruptly after he was swatted.
“Just got swatted. What the hell is wrong with people,” he said in a post on Twitter/X. Fans quickly flooded the comments with concern, and Jonathan was quick to give them an update.
“We are ok. Cops had guns drawn and my wife went out to talk to them while the kids watched from the basement window. Could’ve been horrible. So glad I called ahead of time a year ago to warn it might happen,” he said.
“They called us twice on the phone and didn’t have to break down the door. Now that this has actually happened, they will be even more ready next time. Thankful for the cops doing the right thing. Will do everything we can to find out who did it and press charges.”
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We are ok. Cops had guns drawn and my wife went out to talk to them while the kids watched from the basement window. Could’ve been horrible. So glad I called ahead of time a year ago to warn it might happen. They called us twice on the phone and didn’t have to break down the…
— BeardedBlevins (@BeardedBlevins) May 31, 2024
Fans continued to share their thoughts about the incident, flooding the comments with support for the shaken Twitch streamer.
“So sorry to hear this happened to you! Relieved to hear that everyone is safe and that the police handled it well. Hope you’re able to find out who is responsible and take the necessary steps to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” one user replied.
Another said: “Sorry that this happened to you and your family. Glad to hear everyone is ok.”
Swatting has been a major issue with big-name Twitch streamers for years, with people taking advantage of websites that create a fake phone number to phone in a false report to the creators’ local police department.
Common claims are that the person is in possession of explosive devices, or is threatening to hurt themselves or others. Many creators have spoken out against swatting, including Summit1g, who said that being the “most swatted streamer” continuously put him and his family in danger.
Just in the first half of 2024, quite a few streamers were victims of swatting. N3on getting swatted forced the Zoo he was at to get evacuated in January, while Twitch star Jynxzi suddenly ended stream after the same. UFC Star Sean O’Malley also fell victim on May 18, 2024, and his whole incident was caught live on Twitch.
