Tammi Collins, the mother of one of the teens, wrote on Instagram that multiple witnesses called authorities after seeing the group of teenagers being attacked. She said one of the callers reported that the attack was carried out by a homeless man.
The exact time and location of the incident were not immediately available.
The man had allegedly asked the teens if they “had any crack then tried to take their things,” Collins said. He took out a knife and a whip, and the teens “only had their skateboards to cover them from the knife and whip,” according to Collins.
A video posted online shows responding sheriff’s deputies with their guns pointed at the teens, who have their hands in the air, while witnesses scream at the deputies that the teens were the victims of the attack.
“It’s the other guy!” one woman is heard repeating to the deputies. “Put your guns down, they’re kids, they weren’t doing anything,” another woman said.
“I am the one who called you. It was not them,” said another.
The witnesses call out to the teens to tell them to keep their hands up.
Deputies respond by telling the witnesses to back up, and at least one of the teens is seen being detained in the background while multiple deputies point their guns. It was not immediately clear if anyone was arrested.
The video had been viewed on Twitter more than 3 million times as of Monday afternoon. Sheriff Alex Villanueva said he was among those who saw the video.
“I have seen the recent video involving a Santa Clarita incident which has gone viral and I have concerns regarding the tactics employed,” Villanueva said in a video on Twitter Monday afternoon. “The matter is currently being investigated.”
Collins posted the video on her Instagram on Saturday and it was circulated widely on Twitter.
“This is something my son and his friends will never forget,” Collins wrote in her post. “I’m still wonder(ing) how will I ever help my son recover from this traumatic experience. Please pray for my family.”
View this post on Instagram
Vic says
If those two young men had listened to Rex, they would have carried guns illegally and shot the homeless man. What a travesty that would have been.
Friends don’t let friends listen to Rex.
Ray says
If you own a Nike Store in Santa Clarita you might want to put your entire stock in a safer location.
Diana says
If I was a business owner in Santa Clarita I would start boarding up my store front. Here we go again!
Paul says
Here you go again with this bs stop supporting these thieves and criminals instead of giving crappy advise you could advise them to go look for a job instead of stealing the hard working people’s merchandise
Gunpoint says
“The man had allegedly asked the teens if they “had any crack…”
At least one portion of the economy is in demand.
Step right up and get your ticket to wealth. says
Having a homeless man chase you with a knife is MUCH scarier to me then cops pointing guns and ordering hands to be raised, but going after the bum wont get Tammi Collins a new house and Escalade will it? The families of the boys have already hired attorneys and its been what, hours? The ghetto lottery is back on folks and the LASD is handing out tickets.
You idiots need to think before you make conclusions says
Before anyone jumps to conclusions what did the witness that cause actually say to 911 think about it before you start going nuts like you people always do
How do you know the witness didn’t say three young black males were jumping a homeless guy or vice versa you don’t know what the witness told 911
Here we go again says
when an officer is responding there is always chaos. They usually detain everyone and let people go after they get the story strait. People yelling might be involved, the police need to sort it out. People screaming make matters worse.
Jonathan says
They don’t normally point high powered weapons at the wrong people. Especially when they are unarmed. But you can keep pretending that this is normal.
John says
Hi Jonathan, Is it normal for citizens are various cities to attack cop cars, cops, police stations and etc. Which is going on all around the US right now because the of leftist crazies. The cops didn’t know they had the wrong people because what this specific article didn’t tell you is that cops were called because Kids were attacking a man with their skateboards. Then other calls came in saying a man with a knife was attacking kids. So the cops showed up with two differing stories, both with weapons (yes skateboards are considered weapons especially with how the call came in) and until the cops can intervene in the situation, showed up like this. So I do believe it’s normal and the cops responded appropriately.
Wth says
Let’s be honest with our selves. This scenario would have unfolded differently if it was a group of white kids standing there. Don’t be stupid man and try to justify what happened here.