LA police: Black leader target of teens

LOS ANGELES — Authorities said three teenagers driven by racial hatred were behind hoax calls that brought major police responses to the home of a leading Black Lives Matter activist in Los Angeles.

The teenagers, ages 13 to 16, connected over the Discord chat platform and are suspects in more than 30 bomb threats and so-called swatting incidents across the country, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Swatting refers to a phony emergency call made to attract police to a particular address without cause.

Two of the teenagers live in Ohio and New York, where authorities served search warrants last week. The third teenager is a U.S. citizen who is currently living in Cyprus.

They are accused of perpetrating two fake swatting calls — one this past September and another in August 2021 — at the LA home of Melina Abdullah, co-founder of BLM-LA and a Cal State Los Angeles professor.

Los Angeles police said Friday that the teens were behind swatting hoaxes dating back to July 2020.

Police will present a case to Los Angeles County prosecutors for criminal conspiracy and creating a false emergency charges, and plan to request a hate-crime enhancement in connection with the incidents at Abdullah’s home.