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BOCA RATON MALL LOCKDOWN: Five Days After Lockdown, Still No Arrests Or Answers

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SWATTING? Boca Raton Police Will Not Release 911 Call Leading To Town Center Mall Lockdown.

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Fans of Cody “Clix” Conrod, a popular online gamer, allegedly called in a threat to Boca Raton Town Center Mall in an effort to have him trapped inside while live streaming. He is not accused of any wrongdoing. (Credit: Raul Mesa via Yoxic on X).

BY: ANDREW COLTON | Editor and Publisher

BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2024 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — It‘s been five days since Boca Raton‘s Town Center Mall was locked down as part of what‘s believed to be a “swatting” incident, but Boca Raton Police have released no details or updates about why thousands of people were held against their will during the multi-hour incident Saturday. A freedom of information act request filed by BocaNewsNow.com for the 911 call that allegedly started the incident was denied Wednesday by the department. Police claim the investigation continues.

BocaNewsNow.com was first to report Saturday not just on the lockdown, but the apparent cause: a popular online gamer by the name of Cody “Clix” Conrod was live-streaming his shopping visit to the mall. Fans of Conrod — several apparently in the mall at the time of the livestream — seemingly thought it would be funny to have the mall locked down with Conrod inside. At least one of those fans is believed to have called Boca Raton Police and claimed that guns and bombs were in a vehicle in the north parking lot. That led to the lockdown.

Watch this video from TWITCH that seems to reference the start of the SWATTING incident at the mall. (Courtesy TWITCH).

The lockdown started around 4:15 p.m. By 6 p.m., BocaNewsNow.com had published video of Conrod’s meeting with the fans who may have been responsible for the call. One seems to acknowledge the call to police when speaking with Conrod. Conrod is seen expressing disbelief that his fans would call in a threat, and says he’s concerned that police will involve him in their investigation. The fear was prophetic. He’s later seen in a photo being placed into a police car. Conrod was not arrested. Police said he was cooperative.

But that was roughly two hours into the incident that continued through 10 p.m. Saturday. Why the lockdown continued for several hours remains unclear. Panicked shoppers called BocaNewsNow.com for answers — exasperated that Boca Raton police officials were not updating through the City’s text alert system as to what was happening or whether a gunman was on the loose. Rumors included a “mass shooting” and “a bomb exploding.” Neither were true. But absent continued updates to the media and on the City’s website and text system, rumors spread online and in storage rooms were shoppers hid.

While all criminal investigations are different, the lack of update from Boca Raton Police comes against the backdrop of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office — a different agency — releasing information in near-real-time concerning the Donald Trump assassination attempt just miles away less than a day later, and Broward County Sheriff Dr. Gregory Tony announcing the arrest of a student who allegedly made school threats just hours after the threats were received. Both agencies relied on their “real time crime centers” to close cases quickly. Both agencies constantly and continuously updated the public.

A law enforcement source tells BocaNewsNow.com that “swatting” is a problem for police departments nationwide, but questions why the Town Center Mall lockdown continued for more than five hours when it was apparently clear within minutes that there was no actual threat.

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2 thoughts on “BOCA RATON MALL LOCKDOWN: Five Days After Lockdown, Still No Arrests Or Answers”

  1. Henry E Tanis

    Typical reaction by many local PD’s in South Florida. Smells like coverup for the privileged kids and maybe their parents. I wonder when the lawsuits will start against the perpetrator or perpetrators? Seems like a $1m+ loss of business’s in the loss of business should light a fire under those business’s and Simon property group.

  2. mL Sivak

    Bet some kid has a daddy who is connected. Buch of spoiled rich brats is my guess. They thought it was funny is my guess. And they wanted to see what they could get away with . They don’t give a rats bottom about anyone else but their selves.They should all have to do a at least 2 years of community service in soup kitchens of help in the jails in someway so they see what the real people live like on a lot less than them go through. And they should learn respect for people who are less affluent than they are. the regular people whose lives they felt it was just fine to disrupt and scare for their fun. Disgraceful human beings.
    I hope community service for at least a year to get them so humility and maybe turn them into better people.

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