Two teenagers in Georgia are now facing charges after staging a fake kidnapping incident at a shopping mall. Their motive behind this bizarre act was to capture the staged abduction on camera and gain popularity for their YouTube channel.
Multiple distress calls flooded the 911 lines within a matter of minutes, with concerned individuals reporting a possible abduction at the shopping mall. Witnesses observed a young girl, later identified as 17-year-old A. Coleman, with her hands tied and her head covered, being coerced into a parked vehicle in the mall’s parking lot. The girl’s cries for help, shouting, “He is going to kill me,” intensified the urgency of the situation.
Responding swiftly, the police dispatched eight patrol cars and mobilized numerous County deputies in a frantic effort to locate and intercept the supposed abductor. For approximately 20 minutes, officers scoured the area, fervently attempting to rescue the girl, under the impression that a genuine kidnapping had occurred, according to the Forsyth County News.
Eventually, an off-duty officer managed to halt the vehicle, only to discover no signs of an actual abduction inside. The driver, identified as 19-year-old Christopher K., had the girl sitting beside him, untied and without the head covering.
Subsequent investigations revealed that both individuals had orchestrated the kidnapping prank as a means to attract more followers to their YouTube channels. As a consequence, Coleman and Christopher have been charged with reckless conduct, classified as a misdemeanor, as well as the more severe offense of raising a false public alarm, deemed a felony.
