A trio of female internet celebrities were harassed on the Santa Monica Pier this week during a late night live stream event.
Emily Schunk, Rachell Hoffstetter and Brittany Watts were all broadcasting as part of a marathon stream highlighting female content creators when they came to the Pier at about 9 p.m. on March 2.
As they walked down the Pier Bridge, a man in a grey sweatshirt approached them to ask for a photo. The women take a selfie and then continue onto the Pier. About 30 minutes later, the same man, now wearing a Hawaiian shirt, is caught on camera sitting in a crouched position near the group. He tries to interact with the women before asking for a phone number from Schnuk who declines. As the women moves towards the food vendors at the entrance to Pacific Park, the man becomes aggressive and threatens to fight them. When the victims call for a security guard to help, the suspect can be heard saying “I’ll kill you right now” while he rushes toward the group.
The camera cuts out from the stream at that point but Hoffstetter and Watts elaborated on the encounter the next day saying they had to seek refuge in a nearby store and were scared to leave as they were unsure where the suspect was.
The two said police arrived about 15 minutes after they entered the store and that they will be filing police reports to follow up.
“I think when we went in the store, he backed off because we were with a lot of people. And so we don't know where he was. We didn't know where he went, and we had to beg the workers to hide us, because they kept trying to tell us that we, it's not their fault, but they kept trying to get us to go back around where it happened, and saying that he was gone, but we said we didn't know he was gonna come back,” said Hoffstetter.
The women said that while they knew something like this could happen to anyone, they never expected it to happen to them. They said the suspect was clearly stalking them as he had some of their other videos playing on his phone at the time of the incident. The pair said the shock of being charged by a crazed man was still fresh in their minds.
“It's easy to say what you would have done in the situation, but when you were having your life threatened and you were in flight or fight, we are not gonna wait around to see what he had in his pocket,” said Hoffstetter. “You're just gonna run because there's a guy saying he's gonna kill you …”
According to the Santa Monica Police Department, officers were dispatched to the call at about 8:59 p.m. and arrived at 9:15 p.m. to find the group at the Pacific Park security office.
“Officers contacted those involved, assisted them with an escort to help ensure their safety, and conducted an area search for the individual. The suspect was not located at the time,” he said. “We are aware of video footage circulating online related to the incident and are reviewing the information that has been shared publicly.”
He said a crime report was taken and that officers are investigating.
The Santa Monica incident was one of two occurring on the same night targeting female internet stars. Kaitlyn Siragusa posted that she’d been robbed at gunpoint, also on March 2, by thieves targeting her crypto accounts and said she may have shot one of her assailants.
The two cases have prompted an outpouring of support and prompted calls from other online celebrities for women to increase their security when out and about.
