A Lollapalooza security guard has been arrested after allegedly faking a mass shooting threat in the hopes it would let her leave work early, Block Club Chicago reports.
Janya Williams, 18, was charged with making a false terrorist threat on Friday, July 29th. Williams purportedly sent her supervisor an anonymous message over TextNow that said, “Mass shooting at 4 pm location Lollapalooza. We have 150 targets.”
The supervisor left to alert their superiors, who in turn contacted the FBI. When the supervisor returned, Williams claimed that her sister had found a mass shooting threat on Facebook. The supervisor then asked to see this warning. According to prosecutors, the 18-year-old quickly typed out a new post under the name “Ben Scott” that read, “Massive shooting at Lollapalooza GrantPark 6:00 p.m.” She did not actually post this message, but instead took a screenshot and sent it to her supervisor.
Soon afterwards, the FBI and CPD used an Emergency Disclosure Request on the TextNow threat and realized that Williams had sent the threat. According to court documents, “The Emergency Disclosure Request returned an Apple ICloud account and an IP address, the information revealed the account belonged to the [defendant].”
Prosecutors say that Williams was brought in for questioning and almost immediately admitted that she had fabricated both warnings in order to get out of work early. Bond has been set at $50,000, and Williams must consent to electronic monitoring before she is bonded out. Her next hearing is set for August 8th.
Lollapalooza was host to lots of idiotic behavior this year, as well as influencers, overdoses, great sets, and disappointments. Check out our roundup of everything you missed on the livestream.