'Arab Andy' Arrested For University Of Washington TTS Bomb Threat Hoax (Video)

Arab Andy, a YouTuber who is known for pulling pranks and livestreaming them on YouTube and other online mediums, was arrested Thursday after he planned a fake bomb scare at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, making students scream and run for their lives.

The incident which took place at around 5:30 p.m. EDT, was livestreamed by Arab Andy on YouTube Live, Twitch and later uploaded on Neat Clip. In the video Arab Andy was seen walking into a classroom full of students and recording their reactions after a bomb threat was announced on speakers.

The audio, “Attention, attention: C4 has been successfully activated. Bomb detonation countdown successfully activated,” started playing a few seconds after the YouTuber started recording the video. It was followed by beeps and explosion noises.

Arab Andy was seen laughing and repeatedly saying “holy s--t” when panic ensued among the students within seconds and they rushed for the exit.

“We were in a reception in our conference room ... listening to our chair talk about our year’s worth of stuff,” a male sociology faculty member who was in the room in Savery Hall, a part of the university building where Arab Andy started recording his video, said, University of Washington newspaper The Daily reported. “Then this man, who was about six foot one comes in the doorway and says ‘I’m sorry I’m late,’ and I didn’t recognize him, so I say are you supposed the be here … then he didn’t really say anything but then he pushed a button that said, ‘Attention, attention, attention’ then there was a long gap and it said ‘C4 device activated, the countdown has begun.”

Before entering the Savery Hall, Arab Andy also interrupted a lecture at Smith Hall inside the university which he proceeded to livestream too.

The Seattle Fire department at the time confirmed there was an active bomb threat at the university campus and that it was being evacuated and sealed off until the threat was resolved.

At the end of the video, Arab Andy is seen getting arrested by the University of Washington Police Department in front of Rancho Bravo on the corner of 43rd Avenue Northeast and University Way Northeast. As police officers point a gun at the YouTuber, ordering him to get on the floor, he does not stop recording, trying to convince the law enforcement agents not to arrest him as it was just a hoax and not a real threat.

Arab Andy also goes by the alias “ISIS Poseidon” and runs three channels on YouTube, each of which has about a few thousand subscribers. Viewers can “donate” through a button on his channels during a livestream. In response, Arab Andy will play a TTS handpicked by the viewer. In the most recent livestream, the fake bomb threat was played after an anonymous viewer donated $4.20.

It is not clear if Arab Andy was charged.

According to Washington State Legislature, it is illegal “for any person to threaten to bomb or otherwise injure any public or private school building, any place of worship or public assembly, any governmental property, or any other building, common carrier, or structure, or any place used for human occupancy.” The law also adds that “it shall not be a defense to any prosecution under this section that the threatened bombing or injury was a hoax.”

Normal activities at the university resumed around 6:22 p.m. EDT.

Arab Andy has gotten himself into trouble a number of times before the recent incident including a few days ago when he was almost stabbed on a bus for using the "N" word in a TTS.