Miami police shot down a social media conspiracy theory about a 10-foot extraterrestrial being said to have been spotted during a response to a New Year’s Day incident.
Video of the law enforcement reaction to a teen riot at Bayside Marketplace, a shopping mall in downtown Miami, showed a heavy police turnout with every patrol car in the vicinity showing up and some users claiming that a “glowing figure” walking through the smoke was a visitor from another world, a tale that spread like wildfire.
In a video posted to social media on Friday, Officer Rafael Horta of the Miami Police debunked the alien theories in a factual but tongue-in-cheek manner.
JUST IN: Miami police have responded after theories spread online that 10-foot-tall aliens were spotted on New Year’s Day which prompted a massive police response.
In one video frame from New Years, a tall figure appears to be walking around. The Miami police say this was… pic.twitter.com/tWVB6gzQ2Q
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 8, 2024
“Alright guys, just to address a few clips that are going viral on social media right now,” he began as spooky sci-fi music played in the background. “First our response to the big incident in Bayside Marketplace, what happened was there were about 50 or more juveniles that were shooting fireworks at people.”
“There was also some looting going on so officers that were on that scene were having a little bit of trouble containing it so they called what is called a ‘City-wide 3’ to which every officer in the city responded,” Officer Horta explained, advising why there was such a massive police response to the mayhem at the mall.
“There is now video going viral of 8-10 foot aliens walking around Bayside,” he said. “It’s actually just a person walking with a shadow. So I can confirm to you all here today right now that there are no aliens in Miami at Bayside Marketplace at the moment.”
“So it’s Friday, I hope you guys have a great weekend and stay safe,” he concluded as a cartoon alien appeared and waved to viewers.
It will likely do little to sway the diehards though.
The heavy police turnout resulted in the arrests of four people with some mistaking the fireworks set off by the teens for gunshots. One nearby resident, Ryan Landy described the incident to CBS Miami.
(Video: YouTube/CBS Miami)
“We were just watching a movie with the door open because it was really nice out. We heard a lot of successive shots or pops, I don’t want to say exactly for sure right after New Year’s, it could have been fireworks, I’m not sure. So we go out there and there were just tons of people running. Immediately, not long after that, police cars were showing up, super loud, there were about ten of them and an ambulance,” said Landry who lives in a 26th-floor apartment that overlooks Bayside Marketplace.
“There’s a big crowd of people running outside of Bayside and then we hear a commotion and now they’re just running through the streets, running between cars, almost getting hit by cars, it was absolute chaos,” he added.
According to a Miami Herald report, “’Some officers were heavily armed and approached the crowd displaying high-powered rifles, reflecting the fact that officers were initially erroneously told the situation involved an active shooter,’ the Downtown Neighbors Alliance, an organization that represents residents of several condos in the area, said in an earlier news release.”
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