Lollapalooza Security Guard Arrested For Fake Mass Shooting Threat

As one of the country’s biggest music festivals, Lollapalooza, came to a close in Chicago, it seemed that the event was almost derailed by a security guard who called in a faux gun threat.

According to local news outlets, the guard in question, 18-year-old Janya Williams, had been hired for the weekend festival and allegedly made the threats in order to leave work early.

A festival supervisor received texts via TextNow that read: “Mass shooting at 4 p.m. Location: Lollapalooza. We have 150 targets.” The FBI’s Joint Counterterrorism Task Force and Chicago police were notified of the threat.

Williams also allegedly told her supervisor that her sister had alerted her to another mass shooting threat on Facebook, showing them a post that was actually a screenshot of a conversation that had not been posted on Facebook.

Williams has been charged with a felony count of making a terrorist threat. While being questioned by local authorities, she admitted she’d sent the texts in order to get off work early. She appeared in bond court this week, which set her bond at $50,000. Williams’ next hearing is slated for August 8.

This year’s Lollapalooza featured headliners Metallica, Dua Lipa, J. Cole, Green Day, Doja Cat, Machine Gun Kelly, Lil Baby, and KYGO. Other big names across the weekend were Glass Animals, Billy Strings, Charlie XCX, Big Sean, IDLES, Girl In Red, Still Woozy, and more.

Lollapalooza (Photo: Sydney Gawlik)