Chaos erupted at a packed Southern California mall Wednesday evening after a hoax emergency call triggered a massive police response — all while two livestreamers were broadcasting their day with a young fan.
Kick streamers Zavalahimself and Amanda Solis were live-streaming a day out with a child inside a Journeys store at Westfield Santa Anita Mall when police rushed in around 5 p.m., rifles drawn.
Authorities say someone called 911 claiming the pair inside the store were armed with rifles and bombs and preparing to shoot people in the mall.
The little girl can be heard in the Kick livestream at one point saying, “I’m scared.”
The frightening report triggered a massive response from the Arcadia Police Department and the Monrovia Police Department, with officers flooding the store and ordering everyone to the ground.
Everyone inside the store — including the streamers and the young fan they were shopping with — was briefly detained while officers searched the area. Video shows Solis being placed in restraints.
No weapons were found.
Arcadia police later determined the call was a “swatting” incident, a dangerous prank in which someone makes a false emergency report to send heavily armed police to an unsuspecting target.
The tense response drew a crowd of onlookers inside the mall, while a SWAT truck sat outside the entrance.
Swatting incidents have increasingly targeted online personalities and gamers in recent years, sometimes with deadly consequences, as prank callers attempt to provoke dramatic police responses while victims are live on camera.
Arcadia police are investigating who placed the call.
