A civil rights lawyer said she is outraged and is sharing her story with the media, after her Maryland home was raided by police shortly before Thanksgiving.
Barbara Arnwine, the executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said her Prince George County home was raided by a SWAT team and other law enforcement the morning of Nov. 21, Politic365.com reports.
"They held us at gunpoint for three hours," Arnwine told Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. on Sharpton's radio show "Keepin' It Real." "There is no justification for them operating like this. It's totally unprofessional and unjustified."
Arnwine is a well known attorney, and one of the leaders of groups in opposition of Voter ID laws. On Nov. 14, she spoke out about the effects of voter suppression laws on the minority community along with members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Laura W. Murphy, director of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The SWAT team arrived at her home at 5:30 a.m., disturbing the attorney and her family members, including an 80-year-old relative, Arnwine said. They also did not seem to have a warrant and asked for the name of the homeowner and how to spell that name.
"If they had a warrant and were targeting any of us then how could they not know our names and know how to spell them," Arnwine said to D.C radio station's WPFW news anchor Askia Muhammad. "It looks like they were randomly looking, like they were on a fishing expedition. I honestly think they were looking for someone else. I honestly think they had the wrong address. I don't think they had the right house but I'll never know because I never saw a warrant."
She told Muhammad that the president was aware of the incident, and that a press conference is being planned, according to Politic365.com.
"President Obama has heard about it and has e-mailed people asking 'What in the world is this?'"