What you need to know
According to reports, on Sunday, January 25th, Los Angeles police raided the home of former housewife Garcelle Beauvais after she claimed to be in the house with a shotgun.
The caller immediately refused to meet with police at his home in Porter Ranch, and when officers searched the residence, they found no one or a shotgun on the premises, as the caller claimed, a Los Angeles Police Department official told NBC Los Angeles. It is unclear whether Beauvais, 59, was home when LAPD arrived.
Authorities believe the call was a “swatting” incident, law enforcement officials said.
According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “swatting is the malicious act of placing false emergency calls to emergency responders or (falsely) reporting an ongoing serious crisis in a specific location.” “The purpose of swatting is to provoke a significant law enforcement response, cause chaos, and potentially cause violence.”
Beauvais’ other residence, a beach house, was also targeted in a similar swatting incident in the summer of 2025, Beauvais said during an appearance on SiriusXM’s “Radio Andy’s Smith Sisters Live” in October 2025.
During the episode, the NYPD Blue alum said that “11 teenagers” who were friends of his children were staying at his house.
“We’re having a great time. We’ve been together since Thursday. Then on Saturday afternoon, I was like, ‘You know what? Everybody has to go. If I don’t leave, you’re not going to leave, so I’m going home. I’m packing up. We’re all going home. Tell my parents to pick up whoever’s not driving. And then I’m going home. My phone is blowing up,” the actress and producer said.
“So, you look and it’s my neighbor and she leaves. Our street is blocked off and there’s an FBI car in front of your house. And she leaves and they want your number. And I’m like, don’t give them my number because I’m black,” she continued.
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“So, about 20 minutes later, she called me again and said her house had been destroyed,” Beauvais said.
“But I didn’t even know what it was, so I called Jade and said, ‘What is swatting?'” she said of her 18-year-old son Jade.
“And he says, ‘Mom, they’re doing this to YouTubers and streamers, or somebody calls and says there’s something weird going on at your house. And then the FBI shows up and I have a video of a rifle with a light on and stuff,'” Beauvais recalled.
PEOPLE has reached out to representatives for Beauvais and the Los Angeles Police Department for comment.
Beauvais will soon reprise her role as Eva Denis in Lifetime’s Terry McMillan Presents: Seduced 2, the 2024 sequel to Seduced by Love, scheduled to be released on January 31st.
