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These are the best entry points. They're the ones with with direct street in front, vehicle access and good cover.
— Rigg instructs his team[src]

The Special Weapons and Tactics Unit, commonly known as the SWAT, is a fictional group in the Saw franchise as well as an important protagonistic faction throughout the series.

History

Raid on the Wilson Steel Plant

Eric Rigg SWAT

Rigg and Eric on their way to Wilson Steel

The SWAT was a special law enforcement unit working for the police. The SWAT was founded in the 1960s and was usually divided in small teams, which all used specialized or military equipment and tactics. At one point, the SWAT unit working for the Metropolitan Police Department got involved in the case of a serial killer known as Jigsaw. When Detective Eric Matthews received a message from the killer at the crime scene of his latest game, he was able to deduce the location of the killer's hideout at the Wilson Steel Plant. The next day, Eric went to the hideout, accompanied by his former partner, Detective Allison Kerry, as well as a SWAT team led by Sergeant Daniel Rigg. Rigg, who had been at Wilson Steel at one point already, instructed his team before the went to the plant. After their arrival, Detective Kerry ordered Officer Pete Baker to break through a side door to enter the building, along with Rigg and two of their teammates.

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Pete and his partners in the Electrified Staircase

While making their way through a storage area of the building, the men soon reached a staircase surrounded by a chain-link cage. Since the door was secured by a chain, Baker cut it with a bolt clipper. Upon opening the door, the lights in the staircase suddenly turned on. Baker entered the staircase, followed by his two teammates, while Rigg backed them up. They tried to climb the stairs but eventually stopped when they heard a squealing sound. Seconds later, a mechanical ventriloquist puppet appeared at the head of the stairs, sitting on a tricycle and maniacally laughing at them. After the staircase was locked by a mechanism, Officer Baker tried to approach the puppet, when suddenly, a rigged step sprang forward and broke his shins, causing his two fellow officers to back away, before receiving a lethal electric shock when they touched the cage. As they were killed in front of Sergeant Rigg's eyes, the puppet slowly rode back on the cycle. When Rigg called for reinforcement, the remaining SWAT team, as well as Eric and Kerry, entered the building. While the detectives and Rigg went upstairs, Pete's colleagues dragged him out of the staircase. (Saw II)

Eric Matthews' Test

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Eric, Kerry and Rigg confront Jigsaw

Moments later, they finally found the Jigsaw Killer, John Kramer, who was anticipating their arrival. Rigg immediately ordered his men to arrest him, but they refused to do so when John told Eric it'd the best if John stayed where he was until Eric took care of his problem. He instructed Eric to watch the surveillance monitors in the next room, to which Kerry, Rigg, and Eric then entered the room. Upon looking at the monitors, they saw what appeared to be another one of Jigsaw's games and recognized one of the eight victims as Eric's son, Daniel. However, they didn't know that the footage was pre-recorded and assumed that the events were unfolding live. After seeing the recording of the game, Eric immediately attempted to attack John and angrily yelled at him before being held back by Rigg. John then explained to Eric the rules of his test. Eric's colleagues had to leave the room while Eric merely had to sit down and talk to John for a period of two hours until a timer went off. If he could successfully do that, he'd eventually see his son again.

Kerry then tried to calm Eric down. However, this attempt remained unsuccessful, as Eric got more and more nervous, especially when the first victim, Gus Colyard, was killed by a booby trap only a few minutes after the game began. On Rigg's advice, Kerry called for a tech team to trace back the video broadcast. After a talk with John Kramer, Eric told his colleagues about his ultimatum: In order to save his son, he had to just sit down and talk to John until the end of the game. Rigg suggested using violence to grill John about the victims' whereabouts, but Kerry told him this wouldn't work, stating that John fits a certain psychological profile. Eventually, Kerry convinced Eric to agree to John's challenge and talk to him while she kept an eye on the progress of the game. However, when talking to him, Eric placed a walkie-talkie beneath his chair, so his colleagues were able to listen to their conversation.

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Rigg tries to convince Kerry to let him interrogate Jigsaw

After the second victim in the house, Obi Tate, died in his trap, Rigg persisted on using violence to force John to tell them about the house, as they were just wasting time in his opinion, but Kerry insisted on keeping the situation calm as long as possible. However, Eric became more and more distressed as the game went on, and the tech team was running late, which caused Kerry to formulate a new plan. As she thought John was proud about his work and that it meant everything to him, she told Eric to threaten to destroy all of John's construction plans and notes in the hideout. Eric followed through, but was in turn only provoked by John, who was rarely impressed by Eric's outburst of rage, which only ended when he received his instructions from Kerry after the tech team finally arrived. As Eric refused to play the game and talk to John any longer, the latter told him and his colleagues to look in the desk located in the same room as the monitors. As Kerry did so, she found a bunch of files of old cases, which were the files of the seven other prisoners in the house, Gus Colyard, Obi Tate, Jonas Singer, Laura Hunter, Xavier Chavez and Amanda Young, who was the first victim to survive one of John's games. All those people were once framed by Eric for crimes they didn't commit due to Eric faking the evidence.

Rigg SWAT 4

Rigg realizes that Jigsaw deceived them

When the game in the house got out of control as one of the victims, Xavier, started to kill the other prisoners and pursued Daniel and Amanda, Eric brutally beat John up to make him reveal Daniel's whereabouts. Kerry immediately tried to stop him, but she was held back by Rigg. When Eric threatened John with his gun, the latter offered to take him to the house, but demanded to go there with Eric alone. Eric agreed and left the building with John in a hidden elevator. As they left the building, Kerry sent the SWAT team after them, while she stayed with SWAT Officer Joe and the tech team as they traced the video feed back to an address at 237 North Hyde Crescent shortly afterwards. However, when Rigg and his team arrived there, they realized that the game was already over and the video feed was merely a recording, so Kerry told the team to come back. As the timer went off, a safe in John's hideout suddenly opened and revealed Daniel Matthews, who had been locked up in the safe all along. (Saw II)

Raid on the Elementary School

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The SWAT secures the classroom

Six months later, Rigg and his team were called to a school after the police had received an emergency call about an explosion. This was in fact the same school where Rigg had assaulted Rex years ago. When they entered the building, they discovered that the door of one of the classrooms had been welded shut. Ultimately, they managed to break through a door by using a blowpipe. Upon entering and securing the room, they found the torn up remains of Troy, a man who was killed by a nail bomb during one of Jigsaw's games. Rigg then ordered one of his men to call Kerry, and upon arrival, she immediately feared that the victim was Eric. However, her partner, Detective Mark Hoffman, who was investigating the crime scene, told her it wasn't him. Nonetheless, Kerry was sure that the murder could have something to do with Eric. Therefore, Rigg tried to calm her down and reminded her that Eric was a missing person case, not a homicide case, and assured her that his abduction wasn't her fault. Rigg was also confused as to how Jigsaw had been able to set up the trap, due to his bad physical condition during their last confrontation. Kerry, however, doubted that Jigsaw was actually responsible for the murder, after she learned that the SWAT team had to cut open the door, as it was welded shut, giving Troy no chance to escape even if he would've passed his test. This lead her to the conclusion that someone else was responsible for the game. Seconds later, a member of the forensic team told her that the video tape containing the instructions for Troy's trap was still intact despite the explosion. (Saw III)

Finding Allison Kerry

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Pete and Rigg send in the robot

Four days later, the SWAT team was called to a basement. Led by Rigg and Officer Lamanna and accompanied by Detective Hoffman, they entered the area and found a chain link door. When they discovered a device connected to the door, Hoffman ordered them to send in a tactical robot before entering. Rigg ordered Pete, who had recovered from his injuries, to cut a hole in the door and send the robot in. The robot slowly made its way through the lower floor and reached a corpse hanging from the ceiling. When the camera of the robot eventually captured the person's face, Rigg realized it was Kerry. Horrified by the discovery, Rigg broke through the door and ran to her, thinking he could still save her. However, when he finally reached her, he realized that she had been killed by one of Jigsaw's traps. Seconds later, the remaining SWAT officers entered the lower floor of the basement and called for the forensics, who arrived shortly afterwards.

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Rigg watches the forensic team

After securing the crime scene, a depressed Rigg sat down and observed the work of the forensic team. He asked his partner, Officer Lamanna, to cut down Kerry's mutilated corpse. Lamanna replied that he couldn't do this, but Rigg repeated his plea, as he wanted to bestow at least some respect to her. He then left Lamanna alone when Hoffman approached him. Initially angry at him, Hoffman reminded Rigg that he should know not to go through an unsecured door, but calmed down when Rigg told him that he thought he could have saved Kerry. Depressed by the discovery of their partner, they talked about their work and how they could still go on. Hoffman then noticed a message written on the wall which said "Cherish your life." Rigg asked him how they could if this was their life, to which Hoffman merely responded that they chose it and told Rigg to go home. (Saw IV)

Daniel Rigg's Trial

Later that day, the SWAT team was called to Rigg's apartment at 23 Park Place after a reported shooting. Therefore, Lamanna took over the lead of the team and they invaded the apartment. When entering the living room, they found the humiliated corpse of Brenda, another Jigsaw victim, while Rigg had disappeared as he was forced to play one of Jigsaw's games on his own. Shortly afterwards, the forensic team arrived along with Special Agent Peter Strahm and Special Agent Lindsey Perez, who began their investigation. Meanwhile, Lamanna and Detective Fisk unsuccessfully tried to contact Rigg's wife, Tracy. When Strahm saw numerous photos on the wall and noticed one of Detective Hoffman, he asked Lamanna for his whereabouts. However, the attempts to call Hoffman remained unsuccessful as well.

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Lamanna informs the agents about Art Blank

Shortly afterwards the SWAT was called to the Alexander Motel. When they arrived there, they went to room 261 on the first floor where they found the dismembered body of the motel's proprietor, Ivan Landsness, whose limbs had been torn apart by another Jigsaw trap. Again they called for the special agents and the forensic team who appeared only minutes later. While they investigated the crime scene, Lamanna found out that the room had been rented for the last six days by a lawyer named Art Blank, who had been reported missing two weeks earlier. Agent Strahm ordered him to find out his address. Moments later, Lamanna told them that Art owned several proerties, the last known address being only to blocks away. Therefore, they went to the address and entered the basement. After securing the area, they found two labelled files left there for the agents, which led them to the conclusion that they were Jigsaw's targets.

Lamanna III

Lamanna witnesses the photographer's death

The SWAT was called again that night and was sent to the same school, where they had found Troy four days earlier, after someone had activated the fire alarm. When they entered the school, they soon found Morgan and Rex, who had been trapped there and whose bodies had been impaled by numerous metal spikes. While Rex had died from bloodloss after Morgan had removed the spikes, his wife was still alive. The officers called for the CSI team and Strahm and Perez again who arrived shortly afterwards. However moments after her arrival, one of the forensic investigators accidently activated a device which shot a spike in Perez' direction. Peter Strahm managed to pull her away but instead the spike pierced the head of a police photographer, while Lamanna and the other officers watched in horror. (Saw IV)

Raid on the Gideon Meatpacking Plant

Shortly after the events at the school, the SWAT was called to the abandoned Gideon Meatpacking Plant after Agent Strahm had found out that this was Jigsaw's hideout and the place where Rigg's game was going to end. When they arrived there, Jigsaw and his accomplice, Amanda Young, had already died at the hands of Jeff Denlon, one of their victims. However, Rigg had also succumbed to a gunshot wound after he had been injured during an unsuccessful attempt to save Eric Matthews. (Saw III, IV, V)

Raid on the Clear Dawn Psychiatric Hospital

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The SWAT at Clear Dawn

Despite Jigsaw and Amanda's deaths, their deadly games were continued by a yet unknown accomplice. Several weeks later, Jill Tuck, Jigsaw's ex-wife, revealed to Matt Gibson, an officer working for the Internal Affairs Division, that Detective Lieutenant Mark Hoffman was the successor of Jigsaw. At some point after this revelation, Gibson and his colleagues found out that another game, focusing on a man named Bobby Dagen, took place at the abandoned Clear Dawn Psychiatric Hospital. Therefore, Gibson went to the location, accompanied by a SWAT team. When they broke through the front door and secured the big entrance hall, Gibson noticed a TV, which showed Joyce Dagen, Bobby Dagen's wife, in a trap, as well as a timer, thereby realizing that the game was still going on. As they made their way through the building, they came across the corpse of Nina, Bobby's publicist, in a trap. Seconds later, Gibson was called by Officer Palmer, who had been able to trace an e-mail sent to them by Hoffman from his hideout. When he saw that only 15 minutes were left on the timer, he ordered the SWAT leader to go on with his team while he went after Hoffman. Therefore, the SWAT continued its way and left Nina behind. Shortly afterwards, they also found the corpse of Bobby Dagen's lawyer, Suzanne.

The Cyanide Box

The officers are killed by the gas

Seconds later, the SWAT leader heard the agonized screams of Bobby in the distance. Therefore, the SWAT continued its way and eventually reached a hallway, where they found the corpse of Cale, Bobby Dagen's manager and best friend, hanging from the ceiling. However, most of the floor was missing, except for a few broken beams and stone arches. As they couldn't progress, they tried to find another way and thereby entered a small room, where Hoffman had set up another trap, to prevent them from stopping the game. Moments after they had entered the room, the door suddenly slammed shut behind him, revealing the words "You were warned" written on it. Seconds later, a bunch of cyanide capsules were released into a box filled with acid, resulting in the development of a deadly gas. As they couldn't open the doors, the SWAT officers suffocated within a few seconds. (Saw 3D)

Appearances and References

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