The unnamed teenager thought it would be funny to circulate rumors of a 12-hour crime spree, but as 80,000 people tuned into an online police scanner, nothing happened — not even the alleged giraffe running loose in the Kentucky city.
Despite claims on social media, the “Louisville Purge” scheduled for Friday was a hoax.
The rumor stemmed from a teen prankster who thought it would be funny to tweet about Kentucky authorities allowing crime to run rampant for one night only, according to a Courier Journal report.
A poster that circulated Instagram, Twitter and Facebook in the past week said the alleged Louisville Purge would start at 8 p.m. on Friday and continue until 6:30 a.m. Saturday.
The hoaxed produced nary a violent crime, but Louisville Metro Police had a word with the teen who started the whole debacle anyway.
The teen’s wannabe purge was inspired by a film titled “The Purge,” where in its fictional world ruled by a totalitarian government, emergency services were suspended for 12 hours each year to rid the nation of violent crime.
“We’re going to take any threat that we receive seriously, particularly one that encourages and incites violence against our community,” police spokesman Phil Russell told WAVE-TV.
The teen has since apologized for his prank, and said he understands his actions stirred up some panic in his beloved hometown.
“I didn’t think it would really get that serious,” the unnamed student told the Louisville TV station. “It was wrong for me to do that.”
He started the rumors by tweeting “Whos trying get a Louisville Purge started with me?” on Aug. 10 at 8:30 p.m.,according to duPont Manual High School’s newspaper.
The teen has not been identified because he will not be charged with a crime, but his hoax turned into a legitimate concern for local schools and authorities.
There was one football scrimmage rescheduled for Saturday morning because of the threats circulating on Twitter, and extra police patrols were ordered in the metro area and neighboring communities, according to Journal and WAVE-TV reports.
As 80,000 people tuned into an online police scanner, several fake reports of a giraffe being freed from the Louisville Zoo made the rounds on Twitter.
