Hellbomb was a riot!
Officers dodged glass bottles, while skateboarders barreled downhill into oncoming traffic and through their skirmish line. People flipped over a porta-potty, with a person inside — the man came out speechless and drenched in sewage. Someone dressed as Jesus Christ, who claimed to be an organizer, berated the crowd for destroying a Waymo, and they laughed at him.
“As far as the cops showing up, I kind of predicted it. Closed-off street in Los Angeles, man. I was walking up, I’m like, there might be a riot tonight. So when it happened, I wasn’t that shocked,” said professional skateboarder Chris “Crusty” Weissman.
Halloween Hellbomb, a yearly event where people skate downhill in costumes at high speeds, ended in a riot and one arrest after people crossed the event limit into the intersection and threw a traffic cone at a police car in downtown Los Angeles on Oct. 25.
“I didn’t even have the full event happen because people started destroying a Waymo. That’s not what represents skateboarding or Thrasher,” said Brandon Aguilar, a musician who participated in Hellbomb for the first time.
Bobby Bils, Kyle Walsh and Austin Leleu organize the event yearly with Thrasher Magazine. On Oct. 26, Bils stated on an Instagram post, “Hellbomb does not condone any vandalism or activities that do not involve skateboarding in the Halloween spirit. We are deeply upset that these incidents outside of the permitted event space caused our event to conclude early.”
The Corsair reached out to the organizers for an interview, but they declined to comment.
Before the event, hobbyists and professional skateboarders warmed up together in an impromptu Hellbomb — a play on the word hill bomb, which is rolling downhill at high speed.
Hellbomb covered the median and the majority of the southbound lane on West First Street between Olive and Hill streets, while people warmed up behind a small platform in the northbound lane, adjacent to the event.
The DJ heckled people who slowed down, creating a pile of skateboards and tangled bodies, but people celebrated the scraped knees and bruises.
“The spirit of skateboarding is going from the top of the hill, full speed, going fast as hell, hitting the rails, sending it with 100% energy, and if you fall, you get bloody, get back up, and you do it again until you get it right,” Aguilar said.
Once the event started, people immediately jumped the barricade. The DJ tried to empty the pit, but few left. Security personnel instructed the crowd to “just stay behind the white line,” while waving their fingers at the white pavement markings.
Some individuals climbed into the trees or onto city property to overlook the warm, sweaty and odor-ridden cluster obstructing the view and professional skateboarders' pathway.
Others who couldn’t see the competition returned to the impromptu Hellbomb inside the event limits. By 6:30 p.m., the crowd had spilled onto the intersection of West First and North Hill streets and moved the Hellbomb barricade.
A Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) squad car drove by the event, which people welcomed with boos and a volley of water bottles. After a man threw a traffic cone, the cop flipped their lights on, and police in riot gear arrived.
Skateboarders, rollerbladers and people in wheelchairs sped through a narrow, unauthorized tunnel of people standing on West First Street. They moved fast, and as they gained speed, their wheels wobbled, sending them headfirst into the asphalt, crowd or idling cars.
“People are just indestructible here. They fall and they get right back up. It’s awesome to see,” said Isaac Fine, an emergency responder at the event. “Just look around, nobody’s really wearing helmets. No one’s wearing kneepads or anything — head injuries are pretty common. But these guys know how to fall correctly.”
Police arrested a skateboarder after they collided with the police skirmish line. Officers waited for the incoming person and struck them with a baton as they collided. The cops threw them to the ground, pointed their kinetic launcher at the individual and handcuffed them.
In front of the LAPD, people flipped a porta-potty, dirtbikers did burnouts and skateboarders destroyed a Waymo. A man climbed out of the toppled porta-potty to the crowd mocking him as he walked away with his head hanging and soaking wet.
People smashed the Waymo’s windows, graffitied the sides and posed for celebratory pictures on top. “We hate AI, we hate AI,” chanted the rioters as skateboards caved in the windows and costumed individuals performed a trick called an acid drop off the roof of the car.
A man wearing face paint and dressed as Jesus Christ claimed to be an organizer and attempted to control the crowd, but only received ridicule. “I thought Jesus was about love,” said a teenager with a smirk. People threatened to beat him as they raised their middle fingers to his face and mocked his costume.
The alleged Hellbomb organizer confronted the crowd, but never stopped the show. As less-lethal shots rang out, the man in the Jesus Christ costume started insulting journalists and threatened to fight the crowd of mostly teenagers, drunk individuals and costumed skateboarders.
“I am the one who started this with my friends. Now your dumbass is standing here acting like this is a protest or some reason to stand in front of the cops,” said the alleged organizer to the press as people threw bottles at the police. The cops later shot him with kinetic projectiles as he struggled to push an event barricade out of the intersection.
By 8:30 p.m., Hellbomb was over. The DJ said police were shooting rubber bullets and tear gas into the crowd, which sent people into a frenzy.
Throughout the night, multiple people commented on the lack of security enforcement for an event held downtown. “It could be held there. It just has to have the security, like a bit more of a presence. People were hopping the barricades and just jumping over. It got crazy,” said Aguilar.
As the cops moved in, people skated away or gathered by their cars, watching LAPD fire kinetic projectiles.
“It should have been like everyone just celebrating skateboarding. It’s a rebellious activity. It doesn’t mean that we have to go hurt the cops and destroy cars,” said Aguilar. “That’s not what Thrasher or I feel like embodies — it’s more about skating, not destroying the city.”