Kick streamer N3on found himself at the center of a frightening police response while broadcasting live from Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, after a false emergency call sent law enforcement rushing to the area and temporarily turned an ordinary livestream into a tense encounter unfolding in real time.

N3on was walking along Melrose Avenue with his friend Benjy Chavez on March 22 when deputies suddenly ordered the pair to stop moving and get down on the pavement. Video from the livestream showed N3on dropping to his knees with his hands behind his head as officers responded to what they initially had to treat as a potentially serious public-safety threat. Within a short period, however, authorities determined that N3on and Chavez were not suspects in a genuine shooting plot. They had instead become the targets of a swatting call.

A False 911 Call Triggered the Police Response

According to law-enforcement sources cited by TMZ at the time, someone called 911 and reported that individuals were attempting to shoot up the area. Given the nature of that allegation, deputies arriving on Melrose had little choice but to initially approach the situation as though the threat could be legitimate.

That distinction is important when viewing clips of the encounter. The officers did not yet know that the emergency report was false when they confronted the streamer and his friend. A report involving armed individuals and a potential shooting can require officers to quickly secure the people matching the information provided by a caller before determining whether an actual threat exists.

N3on appeared to understand almost immediately what was happening. As deputies gave instructions, the streamer indicated that he believed he was being swatted, while the person filming also recognized the situation. N3on complied with officers as they investigated the report.

The scene was dramatic enough to produce exactly the kind of footage that spreads rapidly online: a prominent livestreamer on the pavement, police surrounding the area and viewers watching everything unfold without initially knowing whether they were witnessing an arrest, a genuine emergency or another targeted hoax.

It turned out to be the latter.

N3on and Benjy Chavez Were Released Without Arrest

After briefly detaining N3on and Chavez and checking the circumstances surrounding the emergency call, law enforcement determined that the reported threat was not genuine. Neither N3on nor Chavez was arrested.

That means descriptions circulating online suggesting N3on was “arrested” during the incident are misleading. He was temporarily detained while officers investigated a serious report, but detention and arrest are not the same thing. Once authorities established that the pair had been targeted by a false report, they were released.

The episode nevertheless created a dangerous situation for everyone involved. Swatting works by providing emergency dispatchers with fabricated information serious enough to trigger an armed police response. The target may know that nothing is happening, but the officers arriving at the scene initially have no way of knowing that.

For livestreamers, the danger can be amplified by the fact that viewers may know exactly where the creator is at any given moment. IRL streaming frequently involves broadcasting from recognizable streets, restaurants, stores and entertainment districts in real time, allowing someone watching remotely to identify the streamer's current location and direct a false emergency report there.

N3on's Melrose broadcast demonstrated that vulnerability in real time.

The Streamer Had Been Swatted Before

The incident was particularly notable because it was not N3on's first encounter with swatting.

Months earlier, a false emergency call targeted the Los Angeles residence where he had been conducting an extended livestream. TMZ reported that the previous incident created enough disruption that N3on's plans for his 30-day streaming project in the city were affected.

By the time deputies confronted him on Melrose Avenue, N3on appeared familiar enough with the situation to recognize what was happening almost immediately. Instead of appearing confused about why officers had suddenly approached him, he identified the encounter as another swatting incident and complied with their instructions.

That familiarity is disturbing in its own right. Swatting is supposed to be an extraordinary emergency involving someone deliberately manipulating police into responding to an innocent person. For some prominent livestreamers, however, repeated targeting has made the possibility something they have learned to anticipate.

N3on's public style of content makes that threat particularly difficult to eliminate. Unlike creators who primarily broadcast from private studios, he has built a substantial portion of his audience through IRL streams in which viewers follow him through public spaces. His [official Kick channel](https://kick.com/n3on?utm_source=chatgpt.com) has accumulated hundreds of thousands of followers, giving his broadcasts a large live audience and creating an enormous secondary ecosystem of clips that can spread across social media almost immediately.

Swatting Turns an Online Hoax Into a Real-World Emergency

Although swatting is sometimes described online as a “prank,” the mechanics behind it are considerably more serious than that word suggests.

A caller fabricates a violent emergency—often claiming there is an active shooter, hostage situation, murder or armed individual—and provides authorities with the location of the intended target. Emergency dispatchers and responding officers must initially operate under the assumption that the information could be legitimate.

That means the person making the false report is intentionally creating a situation in which heavily prepared law-enforcement officers can unexpectedly encounter people who have no idea why police are confronting them.

The risk extends beyond the person being targeted. Officers responding to the call, people accompanying the target and unrelated bystanders can all become part of the encounter. A false report also diverts emergency resources that could otherwise be responding to genuine incidents elsewhere.

In N3on's case, the false allegation was particularly serious because the caller reportedly claimed people were preparing to shoot up the area. Deputies therefore arrived expecting the possibility of armed individuals rather than a harmless livestream taking place on Melrose Avenue.

Fortunately, officers were able to determine what had happened before the encounter escalated further.

The Entire Encounter Unfolded in Front of N3on's Audience

The fact that the incident happened during a livestream transformed the police response into an immediate piece of viral internet content.

Viewers did not learn about the encounter hours later through a statement or police report. They watched the situation develop as N3on was ordered to stop, get down and comply with deputies. Clips were quickly reposted across social-media platforms, where the sight of the streamer on the ground led some accounts to incorrectly describe the encounter as an arrest.

In reality, N3on had not been accused of committing the crime described by the caller once police established that the emergency itself was fabricated.

The moment also illustrated one of the unusual realities surrounding modern livestreaming. The same technology that allows an audience to experience a creator's life almost instantaneously can also give malicious viewers information they can exploit. A recognizable storefront, street sign or landmark can reveal where a streamer is before the broadcast has ended.

Unlike a prerecorded YouTube video uploaded after someone has left a location, an IRL livestream can effectively broadcast a person's movements in real time.

For creators with enormous audiences, it takes only one malicious viewer to turn that information into a dangerous situation.

N3on Returned to Streaming After the Scare

Despite the dramatic police response, the incident did not end with N3on being taken to jail or facing criminal charges. Deputies investigated the report, determined that it was a swatting incident and released both N3on and Chavez without arrest.

The encounter instead became another viral chapter in the increasingly unpredictable world surrounding N3on's IRL streams, where interactions that begin as entertainment can abruptly become genuine public-safety situations.

For the viewers watching live, the difference between those two realities was initially impossible to determine. One moment N3on and Chavez were walking along one of Los Angeles' best-known commercial streets. The next, they were following police commands while officers investigated a report suggesting an armed attack could be imminent.

Within a short period, authorities determined there was no shooter and no genuine plot to attack the area.

There was only a false call—and a livestreamer who had once again been placed in the middle of a very real police response because of it.