Twitch Headquarters Targeted By Shooting Threats, Police Investigate

An anonymous individual has made multiple threats against the Twitch headquarters in San Francisco, resulting in the preemptive closure of the office and an ongoing police investigation. 

Though Twitch and the San Francisco Police Department did not disclose specifics, Business Insider reports that several Twitch employees have mentioned the threat of a shooting on their private social media accounts. Kotaku supported this claim after speaking with protected sources at the company who shared that they had received an email giving them the option to work from home. 

"We were made aware of a threat against our San Francisco HQ on Tuesday, and have been working directly with law enforcement as they investigate," said Twitch in a statement. "The safety and security of our employees is our top priority, and we are focused on ensuring this is resolved quickly and safely."

The San Francisco Police elaborated on the situation during a phone conversation with Kotaku, mentioning that Twitch had received more than one threat from what seemed like the same source. "There was a threat made yesterday," the officer divulged. "The same threat was made today, followed up with 'The threat is real.'" According to SFPD officer Adam Lobsinger, the first threat arrived via Twitter.

The police have since withdrawn from Twitch HQ, having determined that there was no longer an "active threat." SFPD's special investigations department will take over the case. "We don't have any suspect or know how credible the threat is at this time," reported Lobsinger.

The shooting threats made against Twitch follow in the wake of last week's domestic terrorism attacks in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, which President Trump partially blamed on the video games industry. "The perils of the internet and social media cannot be ignored and they will not be ignored," said Trump. These perils supposedly include "the gruesome video games that are now commonplace."

It's important to note that there's no evidence to support Trump's claims that video games lead to mass violence. Similarly, established studies have disproven his assertion that mental illness is responsible for mass shootings and other violent crimes.