Los Angeles police are investigating a possible hoax call that led to the department’s SWAT team responding on the block of one of the city’s leading Black Lives Matter activists, officials said.
Melina Abdullah, co-founder of BLM-LA and a Cal State Los Angeles professor, began streaming live video on Instagram Wednesday morning, showing armed officers outside her house.
The video showed officers screaming orders at her when she came outside, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Abdullah said on the video that she was concerned about the safety of her children, who were home at the time.
Nobody was hurt. Abdullah could not be reached for comment after the incident.
Police spokesman Josh Rubenstein told the Times that the department was investigating what was “most likely a swatting.”
Swatting refers to a phony emergency call made to attract police to a particular address without cause.
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Rubenstein said a call was made about a house on the block where Abdullah lives, but he would not specify the exact address or whether police think she was the intended target.
