A security guard at the annual Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago is accused of fabricating the threat of a mass shooting in an attempt to get out of work early.
Security guard Janya Williams has been charged with using an app at 2:50 p.m. Friday to send a threat to her supervisor warning there would be a “Mass shooting at 4pm location Lollapalooza. We have 150 targets,” according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
She followed up by telling her supervisor that her sister had seen another mass-shooting threat for Lollapalooza, this time on Facebook.
The supervisor asked for a screenshot of the threat. Prosecutors say Ms. Williams created a fake Facebook profile under the name “Ben Scott”, and wrote that there would be a “Massive shooting at Lollapalooza Grant Park 6:00 p.m.”
Investigators traced both the fake Facebook page and the texted threat of violence back to Ms. Williams.
Under questioning, she told police that she sent the message and created the fake post in order to “leave work early,” according to prosecutors.
She‘s been charged with making a false terrorism threat, which is a felony.