tentenMelina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, live-streamed to her Instagram followers as police swarmed her house after an alleged false kidnapping call was made, Wednesday.
The video showed police outside her home with guns drawn in what she she was later told was a “swatting” incident. Swatting is when a false call is made to law enforcement for the purpose of sending police to a particular home or area.
Abdullah said the police call was for a kidnapping and $1 million ransom, with the money needing to be paid within the hour.
In her livestream, police could be heard saying they were told Abdullah and her family were being held hostage.
In the since-deleted video, Abdullah also called for her Instagram followers to go to her home and call lawyers as she did not want to stop recording what was happening.
Abdullah believes the incident was a scare tactic by LAPD, as she has led weekly protests to “defund the police” and to remove Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey from office.
The BLM-LA leader was also involved in an incident where Lacey’s husband was recorded pointing a gun at Abdullah and other BLM-LA members on March 2. Lacey’s husband has since been charged with three counts of assault with a firearm.
“I don’t ever believe the words of police,” Abdullah said Thursday. “I believe what they were trying to do was throw me off my game. I think they were trying to intimidate me out of acting and I will not be intimidated.”
LAPD is currently investigating the call and confirmed to CNN that it was indeed a “swatting” incident that was put in at 8:53 a.m.
“We continue to ask people to do what the police don’t want us to do, which is continue to fight and continue to show up,” Abdullah said. “I ain’t scared of shit.”