Lollapalooza Security Guard Accused Of False Mass Shooting Threat

Listen: We all know what it’s like to want to leave work early. Hell, some of us know what it’s like to feel that way the second we clock in. What most of us don’t do is call in a terrorist threat in order to leave work early, because—WTF?

Source: Chicago Tribune / Getty

According to The Kansas City Star, an 18-year-old security guard at the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago’s Grant Park—which went on from July 28-31 and featured artists like Dua Lipa, Machine Gun Kelly, Metallica, Glass Animals, J. Cole and Big Sean—is accused of calling in a false mass shooting threat to the venue in order to leave work early.

From the Star:

A staff member overseeing the festival’s security team received an anonymous message on their phone around 3 p.m. on July 29, warning of an impending mass shooting, according to prosecutors, the Chicago Tribune reported.

“Mass shooting at 4pm location Lollapalooza. We have150 targets,” the message read.

An 18-year-old member of the security team, Janya B. Williams, sent the message via TextNow, a messaging app.

Alarmed by the message, the staffer quickly contacted their supervisors, and Chicago police and the FBI were informed of the situation.

With all of these mass shootings hitting the news cycle week after week, this is not a time to be playing around in people’s faces with mass shooting threats. This teen was probably thinking, “Hey, with all of this mass shooting hullabaloo, I bet I can use the hysteria to bounce early,” when she should have further been thinking, “This is a stupid-a** idea because that same hysteria will be THE F***ING REASON THEY CATCH MY DUMB-A**!”

But wait, there’s more:

After the staffer shared the news with the security team, Williams mentioned that a similar threat had been posted on Facebook, promising a “massive shooting at Lollapalooza Grant Park 6:00 p.m.,” TV station WGN reported.

“Ben Scott,” the user who posted the threat, was a fake account set up by Williams, prosecutors say. Additionally, the FBI was able to trace the text message back to Williams’ IP address and iCloud, according to Fox News.

No one could possibly hate Metallica this bad. Maybe Machine Gun Kelly.

Seriously, either Williams is just not a fan of contemporary popular music, she really hates her job or she is simply not adept when it comes to finding excuses to leave early.

Either way, Williams is now facing a criminal charge of making a false terroristic threat, according to the Star.

Next time just say you’re sick, sis.