Shooting Threat Against Los Angeles Mall Leads to Australian Arrest

According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the LAPD received a tip regarding a threat against The Grove, a shopping center located in West Los Angeles.

The threat was in fact posted on the Internet. It stated that a shooting would happen at the popular West L.A. shopping center on December 6th sometime during the day. The LAPD received this tip just a day before on the 5th.

In the midst of the recent mall shooting that occurred in Omaha, Nebraska, the LAPD took the threat extremely seriously and put several detectives from their Major Crimes Division and Computer Crimes Unit on the case. The detectives teamed up with the security personnel at the shopping center to make sure that people were safe.

Within a few hours, the detectives from both LAPD units had traced the threat back to an IP address located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

The case did not end here. In fact, the LAPD detectives contacted police in Melbourne who were convinced that the LAPD had recovered enough evidence about the location of the IP address to make an official arrest. They successfully tracked down Jarrad Willis, a 20-year-old Melbourne resident. He reportedly posted a threat against the shopping center on an Internet Blog.

Australian police authorities charged Willis with "Creating a False Belief," a strict violation of law. It is possible that more charges will be brought up against the young man.

What may be Willis' worst punishment is repaying $100,000 in investigation and legal fees to both the LAPD and Victorian Police. The Australian police authorities have stated that restitution will be part of Willis' prosecution. His trial will take place in Australia, but repayment will be paid to the LAPD.

"In short order, it became very apparent that this suspect did not have any operational capability to carry out his threat. There was never any real threat to The Grove and there is no ongoing threat," said Michael Downing, Deputy Chief of the LAPD's Counter-Terrorism and Criminal Intelligence Bureau.