Indianapolis City County Council member pulled into pattern of swattings

Indianapolis Democratic City-County Council member Nick Roberts is one of the latest Indiana officials dragged into threats targeting state lawmakers. Roberts is unique in that he is a local official and a Democrat.

In a statement on social media Friday, Roberts said the “multiple threats about bombings and a swatting attempt” came Thursday, shortly after he denounced similar threats against state lawmakers.

“While it is unclear exactly why I was targeted, these came shortly after I made posts on social media condemning the threats against some of the Indiana State Senators. Most importantly, thankfully, my family and I are safe and no incident occurred,” he wrote. “I greatly appreciate the Indiana State Police and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department for their alertness during this scary situation and taking these threats very seriously.”

He continued that he cannot provide more details because of ongoing investigations and said, “I want to condemn these criminal acts and again call publicly for an end to political violent rhetoric from the top down.”

A growing list of Indiana officials have announced they were targets of similar threats, which so far includes Gov. Mike Braun and many state lawmakers who were undecided or against redistricting in Indiana.

Contact WFYI reporter Zak Cassel at zcassel@wfyi.org.