A strange case is unfolding around a beach house owned by late-night host Jimmy Kimmel in Hermosa Beach. Local police are still trying to figure out if there was a credible threat against Kimmel’s property or just a prank.
TMZ broke the story that last night. Just before midnight local time, police surrounded a Hermosa Beach house owned by Jimmy Kimmel and his wife Molly (the house is not their primary residence) after a threatening call came in referencing explosives. The Kimmels were not at home, but a friend, chef Adam Perry Lang was in the house, allegedly sleeping when the police arrived, leading authorities to consider that they might have a swatting situation on their hands.
Adam Perry Lang is a chef and best-selling author known for books about meat and grilling. He is the owner of the steak house APL.
Witnesses say the house was swarmed by police on land and in the air in police helicopters, and at least one police drone was used. The police say that they evacuated the nearby houses but it took eight hours to make contact with Lang, who was inside Kimmel’s home.
Jimmy Kimmel’s Hermosa Beach Rental Home Targeted with Threats of Explosives – FiWEH Life – https://t.co/dfLkWIsDSZ pic.twitter.com/TDOhgZsBNB
— FiWEH Life (@fiweh) January 27, 2019
TMZ shared police audio of a man calling in what has been accepted as a threat, saying that he had explosives and had assaulted a woman in the house with a rifle.
After eight hours, police had Lang walk out of the house and into police custody without incident. No explosives were found in the house and nobody was hurt. Kimmel bailed Lang out around noon today, but police say they have not cleared the chef in the incident.
Hermosa Beach police released a statement saying that they had valid reasons for arresting Adam Perry Lang, and that is why they have not dropped charges against him.
“There is a reason we arrested him [Lang]. There is evidence detectives are now processing.”
This is in contrast with the comments from the Kimmel camp which say has been confirmed as a case of swatting.
Adam Perry Lang is popular with the Los Angeles meat-eating and paleo set, reports Eater . Lang sells year-old, dry-aged, bone-in New York strip steaks, perhaps the oldest steak cuts sold in the city. Lang built a stand-alone steak aging room in the basement of his restaurant (underneath the Hollywood Walk of Fame) for the meat treats with a hefty price tag, coming in at about $150 for a strip steak aged for over one year.
