SEATTLE (AP) — Police say a large group of teens and young adults entered and then suddenly fled Southcenter Mall in Tukwila, and the chaos appears to have been sparked by a social media posting from a Youtube celebrity.
DeShae Frost, who has about a million followers on social media, grew up in Seattle and now lives in Los Angeles.
Detectives say the crowd gathered at the urging of a post on YouTube announcing a “meet and greet” with DeShae.
But a later statement from DeShae says the crowd got too big too fast and he feared for his life, so he ran for an exit. A large number of young adults suddenly ran for the exits as well, prompting fear among store owners and shoppers that there might be a shooter or other threat. Some stores closed their gates during the incident.
Police say DeShae did not have a permit for an event or ask permission from the mall. There are reports that an earlier post from DeShae shows that he intended to cause a ruckus.
An investigation is underway that could lead to charges.