Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley says that her parents recently had "guns drawn" on them.
Haley made the revelation during a recent appearance on NBC's Meet the Press.
According to Haley, the guns were drawn on her parents during the "swatting" hoax that took place in December at her home on Kiawah Island, South Carolina.
Haley was not home when the incident occurred, but her parents, who are 87 and 90 years old, were, along with their caregiver.
It was Reuters that first reported on the incident. For those unfamiliar with the term "swatting," it refers to incidents in which a false report is filed to the police, a report that could lead to a potentially dangerous encounter with law enforcement.
"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 outlet reports.
Reuters goes on to provide more details about the incident.
Per the outlet:
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 her."
The incident is said to be under investigation by the FBI. Thus far, neither a suspect nor a motive has been identified.
Haley provided more details about the incident during her recent Meet the Press appearance. It was here that she revealed that guns had been drawn on her parents.
"I will tell you that the last thing you want is to see multiple law enforcement officials with guns drawn pointing at my parents and thinking that something happened," Haley said.
She added, "It was an awful situation."
Haley went on to claim that this is not the first time that she has been the target of a swatting incident. She told NBC, "It wasn’t the first time. I think we’ve had it happen twice."
Now that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' (R) has suspended his campaign, Haley is former President Donald Trump's closest Republican rival. She currently trails Trump by, on average 57.7 percentage points. But, she insists that things are closer than they seem and that she will remain in the race.
