We’re defined by our own company name, which is – for the record – NEWS24/680. We chose the name because our bisecting highways have served as ready identifiers for our area of coverage.
None of that seemed to matter yesterday as we were flooded by incoming calls about a developing incident at a theatre complex in Emeryville.
As it happened, one of our people happened to have been on scene when a series of scuffles, fights, and a knifing swirled into a melee involving hundreds of mostly young people. As we have seen in the past the groups surged back and forth across public spaces, cell phones held high and scaring the absolute bejeebers out of Sunday shoppers caught up in the calamity.
We dialed in, receiving photos and video from the always on-the-spot Craig Cannon, and trying to figure out crowd movement as hundreds of heavily armed police officers flooded the area, closing businesses and streets in an attempt to regain control and restore order.
Those photos went up on our Instagram page as the bizarre incident continued to develop, police issuing a rare inter-agency assistance call after a gunshot was reportedly fired. A girl was stabbed and seriously wounded a short distance away from where Craig was standing so we had a pretty quick grasp of the seriousness of the situation.
It turned out there were similar incidents in several other parts of the state as AMC Theatres promoted National Cinema Day by selling discounted movie tickets for $4 apiece, large groups of kids apparently doing some promotion of their own via Social Media and issuing a “come and party” message to friends.
The result was, for a good while at least – pure chaos. We relegated our coverage to our Instagram page and Flash Alerts to those East Bay subscribers who have signed on with us previously.
We thank everyone for calling – even if it turned a relatively quiet Sunday in the 24/680 into something else altogether.
Time to expand to national coverage. Let me tell you about all of the shootings in L. A. yesterday.
Firestone 11R
You wouldn’t believe the amount of heat we get when we dare stretch out to Benicia!
Some folks really want us focused on our namesake freeways…
NEWS24/680
I agree with your policy. After all, my godson caught the Half Moon Bay mass shooter and I felt no necessity to give you the inside details.
Firestone 11R
“Twitch streamer Kai Cenat, who posted about a giveaway, is being questioned by police. Influencer and Twitch streamer Kai Cenat was charged with at least two counts of inciting a riot and unlawful assembly after thousands of people descended on Union Square in New York City Friday afternoon, police said.Aug 5, 2023”
Interesting scenario. I don’t know how you could hold AMC or the above influencer accountable without proving intent to cause chaos.
Strange times.
Agree on the “strange times” conclusion. We have definitely “crossed some strange boundaries – with parts of the world taking a turn for the surreal.”
Hard for us to imagine prosecuting a business owner for a Retro Price admissions offering, we’d tend to put more of the onus on those who dialed up their friends and then started swinging. But that’s just us…
NEWS24/680
Ah. A movie reference is apropos. If I was thinking at all, I should probably have gone with Strange Days, 1967. We are living in some sort of bizarre and ugly violent circus.
It sure seems that way, at times.
Coming to theater near you. Hope not. Was the movie any good?
I watched Boy Erased on the small screen tonight. A bit heavy, I thought. Am I up for this tonight? Oh, Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, Joel Edgerton in the cast. I should at least give it a look. Set in Australia, no doubt…LOL. In the first scene I’m looking at Arkansas plates on a car. Oh, well. I can’t blame the actors/filmmakers for following the stories and the paying audience.
Emeryville is SO much more exciting than our sleepy fiefdoms!
(Walnut Creek is working hard to catch up though.)