In the second case in one month, prosecutors say a crime in Columbus was live-streamed with the smartphone app Periscope.
Prosecutors say in February, two men in the North Linden neighborhood made a live-broadcast displaying a loaded AR-15 rifle.
According to the Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien, the two men said if they received 100 views they would “empty the clip in the neighborhood.”
A week later, the rape of a teenage girl near New Albany was allegedly broadcast using Periscope. Reports of that story received national attention.
O’Brien says the issue is not the app itself, but how it’s been utilized.
“I think it illustrates the almost obsession of some people social media to document what they’re doing,” said O’brien. “Either to impress them, or scare them, or excite them or whatever it may be.”
O'Brien says at one point in the live broadcast, the men in Linden handed the gun to a toddler. O'Brien says once their live-stream received 100 views they took the gun and began driving around in a car. That's when O'Brien says a viewer in another state contacted law enforcement.
The men were apprehended that same evening. They face five counts, including child endangerment and up to five years in prison.