Police Admit Mistake In Arresting Canadian Trans Streamer Over Hoax Mass Shooting Threats

Police in London, Ontario have owned up to their mistakes over the arrest of Canadian trans Twitch streamer Clara Sorrenti after receiving hoax 911 calls that she was planning to attend city hall to shoot people.

“We believe there was a deliberate attempt by a third party to place suspicion on Sorrenti in relation to what are now believed to be false threats to harm people at City Hall.  This is sometimes referred to as “swatting,” London Police Service Chief Steve Williams said in a statement. 

Swatting is a term used to describe the actions of people who target another person and make hoax calls to police or emergency services to report a crime like shooting or hostage crisis.

Woken Up With An Assault Rifle In Face

Sorrenti, who is well known by her Twitch handle Keffals, had in a YouTube video described how she was woken up with an “assault rifle in (her) face on August 5. The police claimed that an email impersonating Sorrenti had been sent to every city councillor that morning.

The email from the person claiming to be Keffals, said that she had killed her mother and was planning a mass shooting at the city hall and kill every cisgender person there. 

“Instead of the police helping me, they terrorized me and my loved ones, traumatizing me and leaving both my fiancé and I on the verge of losing everything,” said Keffals, adding, ““They victimized me for being the victim of a hate crime… When I was woken up by police officers and saw the assault rifle pointed at me, I thought I was going to die. I feel traumatized.” 

The police said they had subsequently released Sorrenti after realising this was an “swatting” incident. 

Police Chief Vow To Catch Swatter

Police chief Williams said he had reached out to Sorrenti “to discuss this matter, and to assure her that we have opened an investigation into the swatting incident.”

Williams said that they would now go after the people who made the hoax calls and emails. 

“I have directed members of our Criminal Investigation Division to commence an investigation into the origins of the email sent to City Officials, with a goal of identifying the person or persons responsible and laying the appropriate charge(s),” the police chief said. 

Keffals had also accused the police of using her deadname. Williams said that they acknowledges the distress this has caused Sorrenti and “we will be reviewing the occurrence to understand how that might have happened”.