Sue Jacquot, known online as GrammaCrackers, was livestreaming a fundraiser for her grandson’s cancer bills when a false emergency call brought a heavy police response to her home; despite the shock, she says she will keep streaming and refuse to be intimidated. The incident interrupted a planned multi-day 24/7 stream where viewers watched her play Minecraft with her grandsons while raising money for medical costs. Local officers swarmed the house, the family was stunned, and investigators are now looking into the swatting that nearly turned dangerous.
Jacquot built a large following by gaming with her grandsons and using that audience to try to help pay bills after a devastating diagnosis. “He’s had 200 chemo treatments in like a year and a half, and that’s a lot of expensive bills that the insurance company won’t touch,” the 81-year-old said to KPNX-TV. The family set out to run a 15-day livestream marathon to raise funds and keep morale up while dealing with the medical nightmare.
What happened in the middle of that goodwill push felt like a punch to the gut. “We got a call that Jack shot his grandma and killed her and that he was going to kill himself, and right then, I was like, ‘Whoa,'” Jack Self said. “It was kind of like a punch to the stomach.”
Swatting is a malicious tactic meant to trigger an armed police raid by reporting a fake violent crime at someone else’s home, and it can be lethal when officers respond thinking they’re entering a real emergency. The goal is to create a panic and escalate a normal situation into a life-threatening confrontation. People who livestream are especially vulnerable because their locations and emotional reactions are public in real time.
When the call came in, more than a dozen Queen Creek officers arrived and surrounded the house while viewers watched the chaos unfold on the stream. The livestream captured police waking Jacquot from bed and leading her out as officers tried to sort the false report. “They just sort of escorted me out, and they were apologizing,” GrammaCrackers said. “I just wondered what my grandkids had done.”
Officers say the incident is under investigation and the family is cooperating, but whatever answers come, Jacquot isn’t folding her tent or shutting down her channel. She insists the scare won’t end the fundraiser or her streams aimed at helping her family with medical costs.
Her reaction after the raid was blunt and defiant, a reminder that the victims of online harassment can push back. “They’re not going to tell me what I can do. They’re not going to make me afraid to do that,” she said, making clear she plans to keep using her channel for good. The family reported a swell of support after the scare, with viewers and friends offering words, virtual hugs, and donations.
Jacquot later posted a video on her channel reflecting on the event and the affection she felt from her grandsons afterward. “It was kinda fun!” she said about the extra attention and hugs, turning an awful interruption into a moment of closeness. The stream and the fundraiser continue, and the family hopes to turn the attention into help for medical bills instead of letting it be weaponized to intimidate them.
