The crowd gathered at midnight at Washington Boulevard and Maple Avenue. No one really knows why dozens of people showed up at the intersection just south of downtown Los Angeles. Some were all dressed up to party, rocking pink platform heels and cat ears. According to a video shot by news outlet OnScene.TV, things got pretty wild. A man was chugging from a jug filled with some flammable liquid, spitting it onto a torch and sending flames shooting into the night sky. Meanwhile, a dude in a leather jacket decided to climb up a light pole, balancing his feet on a street sign while he filmed himself talking into his phone.
Vandals in the crowd shifted their focus to an A Line train that had stopped along Washington Boulevard. They started spray-painting the train and banging on the windows, causing chaos. The Los Angeles Police Department got a call at 12:12 a.m. on Sunday from someone reporting that five dudes had hopped onto a train car and were wrecking the place, as told by Officer Kevin Terzes, an LAPD spokesperson. Video footage showed a bunch of LAPD officers forming a line across the street, armed with black and green riot guns that shoot foam rounds. At 12:19 a.m., another call came in about people causing a ruckus on a train at Washington Boulevard and Trinity Street. No arrests were made in connection with the calls, leaving the situation a bit up in the air. It’s not really clear if the LAPD ended up busting anyone in the group that tagged the facades of a Panda Express, Waba Grill, dialysis center, and medical clinic. Some of the folks in the crowd even took selfies next to a spray-painted LAPD cruiser and got into a heated exchange with officers. They even threw a firework and kicked at a police car as the officers drove off.
Train service got delayed by around 20 minutes because about 50 “trespassers” decided to block both southbound and northbound trains at Washington Boulevard and Maple Avenue. Jose Ubaldo, a Metro spokesperson, mentioned that the vandals had a field day spray-painting the trains inside and out. Luckily, no passengers or Metro employees got hurt during the chaos. Ubaldo urged anyone with info on the incident to reach out to the LAPD at (800) 222-8477. The whole situation was a mess, and it’s hard to say what prompted it all. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like a wild night in LA that no one expected.
