Lollapalooza Security Guard Arrested For Making Fake Mass Shooting Threat To Leave Work Early
In another example of music festivals being chaotic this year, a Lollapalooza security guard was arrested over the weekend after she allegedly sent texts and Facebook messages threatening a mass shooting. The guard, 18-year-old Janya Williams, had been hired for the weekend festival and allegedly made the threats in order to leave work early.
According to local news outlets, a festival supervisor received texts via TextNow that read: “Mass shooting at 4 p.m. Location: Lollapalooza. We have 150 targets.” Williams also allegedly told her supervisor that her sister had alerted her to another mass shooting threat on Facebook, showing them a message that was really a screenshot of a message that hadn’t actually been posted to Facebook.
Williams has been charged with a felony count of making a terrorist threat. During questioning, she admitted she’d sent the texts in order to get off of work early. Williams appeared in bond court this week; a bond was set at $50,000. Williams’ next hearing is set for August 8.