The elderly mother of a former cop who risked his life defending the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was "swatted" after her son spoke out against former President Donald Trump, NBC News reported Wednesday morning.
Michael Fanone's "mortified" mother was wearing a nightgown when she opened the front door of her Virginia home on Tuesday only to find a SWAT team standing before her, the furious former cop told NBC News.
"These swatting calls are incredibly f---ing dangerous," he reportedly said. "Especially when the target is somebody like my mom."
The team was responding to a fake "manifesto" in which the author, who claims to be Fanone, confesses to having killed his mother then promises to shoot more people in a school, NBC reports.
Hours earlier, Fanone had stood alongside actor Robert De Niro to condemn Trump outside the Manhattan court building where the former president faces criminal charges, according to the report.
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"This is the reality of going up against or challenging Donald Trump," Fanone told NBC.
"How dangerous is it to send law enforcement to an address in which you essentially are describing an active shooter, in which the only person present is a 78-year-old f---ing woman?"
Fanone's report was confirmed by the Fairfax County Police Department, who told NBC a threat assessment management team assisted the SWAT team.
Neither the Alexandria Police Department nor the FBI responded to NBC News’ requests for comment.
For his part, the former cop cast blame on Trump followers he believes targeted his mother as retribution for speaking publicly about his experience on Jan. 6, 2021.
“All I do is go out there and talk about what happened to me and so many other police officers,” Fanone said. “This is the direct result of that.”