A woman died this week in a car crash involving a Georgia officer, who at the time was responding to a bomb threat at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s home, according to police and the congresswoman. The threat turned out to be a hoax, said Green, who said she has been targeted multiple times before by “swatting” attempts — where someone flags a false emergency to law enforcement in efforts to draw an armed response to their target’s residence.
The wreck occurred Monday in Rome, Georgia, where Greene lives, as the officer drove his personal vehicle to join his department’s bomb squad on a call, Rome Police said in a statement. A car pulled out in front of the officer on his route, causing the accident, CBS affiliate WANF reported, citing Georgia State Patrol. The other driver, 66-year-old Tammie Pickelsimer, was killed in the collision, state troopers told the news station.
Authorities have not identified the bomb squad officer by name, and it was unclear whether he sustained injuries in the crash.
Greene, a Republican who has represented Georgia in the U.S. House since 2021, said the officer was responding to a threat at her home when the accident took place.
“I’m heartsick right now. I was just informed that an innocent woman died today in an auto accident involving a member of the Rome Police bomb squad who was responding to the threat at my home,” Greene wrote in a social media post Monday night.
“These violent political threats have fatal consequences,” she continued. “It’s an undue strain on our law enforcement who must treat them seriously. The officer was responding to protect my life. And now, a woman has lost her life because of this despicable act.”
The congresswoman said in an earlier post Monday that the assistant chief of the Rome Police Department had “received an email containing a bomb threat directed towards” her. Greene shared surveillance video appearing to show a bomb squad officer examining the mailbox outside of her home.
She also shared screenshots of the alleged email, which contained the subject line “For Palestine” and claimed a homemade pipe bomb hidden in Greene’s mailbox would explode the next time someone opened it or over the weekend.
Authorities have apparently traced the email to a Russian IP address, according to Greene. She said her office was working with local and federal law enforcement, including the FBI, to find and prosecute the perpetrator.
CBS News contacted the Rome Police Department, the Georgia Department of Public Safety and the FBI for more information but did not receive immediate replies.
Violent threats against lawmakers across the country appear to be on the rise. Recently, several Democratic U.S. representatives from Connecticut reported receiving bomb threats around Thanksgiving, shortly after President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team said several Cabinet and administration picks were targets of similar threats as well as swatting.
