In January 2025, a video was dispersed on the Internet allegedly shot in California. Its author allegedly captured how African Americans take out other people's things from the house left after the evacuation. We checked the authenticity of this record.

Viral 18-second video began to diverge massively along the rune on January 10. Telegram channel "Front bird"(25,000 views at the time of writing this analysis) described what is happening in the frame as follows:“ Against the backdrop of unprecedented fires in California, simple dark-skinned Americans actively and massively help residents of Los Angeles in the evacuation of property. But no, wait a minute, this is a mass loot. And all the same faces 🙈 [Emoji with a monkey]. ” The video was also published in the Telegram channel of the TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov (201,000 views), commenting on the recording in a similar way: "While some fight the elements and extinguish fires, others use chaos for looting and profit." With similar signatures, the video was posted in the channels "Bankst"(143,000 views),"New edition"(73,000), Lomovka (48 000), Travel Media (28,000) and others. Many similar posts are found in VKontakte (examples here, here, here, here And here).

Since January 7, 2025, part of Southern California has been covered by large -scale forest fires. In particular, the natural disaster affected Los Angeles and the suburbs, as a result of which from the fire suffered thousands of buildings. According to local authorities as of January 13, Died at least 24 people, still 16 They are listed missing, almost 180,000 inhabitants were forced evacuate. At the same time, at least 29 people were Arrested For looting in the zones of compulsory evacuation, including two attackers, they were caught when they were imposed as firefighters. In this regard, the sheriff of the Los Angeles district Robert Luna announced On the introduction of the commandant and other measures to protect the law and order.

As for the distributed video with allegedly captured looters, it is divided equally into two parts. The first shows how a dark -skinned man walks along the roadway, carrying a large bag on his back, while firefighters work against the background. A residential building is located nearby, behind which smoke with fire is visible. The second part of the video, apparently, was shot on the threshold of the same building from which a group of African Americans endures TV and other equipment.

Video: social networks

In the lower part of the viral roller there is a logo of the Iranian portal Damavand Media. In his social networks, such a record was Published On the night of January 10. “The cousins of the deceased George Floyd (The African American, after the murder of which in 2020, mass protests began against the police violence under the slogan Black Lives Matter.-Approx. Ed.), Using a great opportunity during a fire in Los Angeles, are engaged in socialist shopping in abandoned residential buildings, ”says the signature on Farsi. The video published by Damavand Media is also noticeable blog Termark The Chingon Mexican (@the_chingon_mexican__) on Instagram*. The description of this profile reads: “Truth from the point of view of the conservative chikano (so yourself called Some Americans of Mexican descent. - approx. Ed.). Warning: Feelings will be affected. ” At the time of writing this parsing, the video on The Chingon Mexican page is not available - it was probably removed.

English -speaking posts in which men captured on the record were called Marauders And at the same time supporters [candidates from democrats in the last presidential election] Kamaly Harris, scored tens of millions of views, so the American factor drew attention to the video. In particular, the analysis published projects Snopes And Lead Stories. Our colleagues failed to find the source of the viral video, but they found that the same people near the same building on January 8 were on the live air of the Los Angeles TV channel KTLA 5. Seven-hour record of the corresponding broadcast Available On YouTube. From the report, you can find out that the house located at West-Woodbury-Road, 161 in Altaddenen, the northern suburbs of Los Angeles.

On the left - screenshots of the viral video, in the center - screenshots of the panorama of Google Street View from November 2023, on the right are the screenshots of the broadcast of KTLA 5. Photo: social networks / @ktla5 (YouTube) / collage "Tested"

The fragment of interest begins at the mark 04:45:09. On the air, journalist Chip Yosta talked about the street on which several buildings burned down, and then went to the house in the neighborhood. After that, technical problems began at the filming group, which is why part of the report is not available. However, immediately after the resumption of the broadcast, the journalist said that the family living in that house, along with her friends and relatives, carried out his things from the home in case fire spreads to the building. Then Jost talked with a woman who introduced himself as a tiaandra - she stated that she lives there with three children and pets. According to her, the house still managed to suffer from the fire and is now unsuitable for living. Tiandra also said that she did not know exactly what things they managed to endure at the last moment. In the same report, her son Elijah said that he saved the animals, and his mother added that the young man carried out everything he could, including school supplies. Friends and relatives who helped save things, while stood nearby.

Video: @ktla5 (YouTube)

Thus, the viral video shows not looters robbing someone else's house, but the residents themselves and their relatives, who saved their things.

*Russian authorities They think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social network Instagram, is prohibited by an extremist organization, its activities and symbolism in Russia.

Photo on the cover: social networks / collage "Retrieved"