Video showing woman pretending to board up window in Southern California goes viral
SANTA MONICA, Calif. - A woman in Southern California, identified by media outlets as a journalist for the Washington Examiner, has deactivated her social media accounts, after video of her pretending to help board up a store window went viral.
In the video, the woman was seen holding up a power tool next to a store that's being boarded up in Santa Monica, which like other cities across the country has faced major vandalism and looting amid demonstrations protesting the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
After posing for a photo, the woman was seen returning the tool to a worker at the site and thanking him before getting back into a black Mercedes Benz that's parked in a red zone.
The video was posted on Monday on Twitter, with the caption, "This lady stopped someone boarding up a store in Santa Monica so she could hold the drill for a picture, then drove away. Please don't do this."
It has since received millions of views and more than 29K retweets.
Among those who retweeted it was director Ava DuVernay, who commented, "You know what? I’m... I think I’m gonna put Twitter away for a few minutes before I throw this phone across the room."
The woman has been associated with the Twitter handle @factswithfiona. The account has since been deleted.
Businesses in Santa Monica were damaged in widespread looting on May 31, 2020.
On Monday, there was a massive clean-up effort in Santa Monica, after many businesses were damaged during widespread protests over the weekend.
Santa Monica police said some 400 people were arrested after a peaceful demonstration on Sunday turned violent and resulted in mass looting and vandalism of businesses.
This story was reported from Oakland, Calif.