Blink-182 put on 'lock down' at El Paso hotel during shooting rampage
By Variety Staff| 2 years ago
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) - Rock band Blink-182 was put on lock down at an El Paso hotel on August 3rd, the same morning a gunman killed 20 people and injured dozens more at a local Walmart at the El Paso Cielo Vista Mall.
Blink frontman Mark Hoppus kept his 2.8 million Twitter followers apprised of the situation, writing, "over the intercom system they just announced that there are reports of another active shooter directly across the street at a location different from the first shootings."
Blink 182 were kept in lock down at an El Paso hotel the morning a gunman killed 20 people. (Getty)
Police later assessed there was no second incident, but Hoppus, the band and crew saw the panic firsthand. As Hoppus described: "We were leaving breakfast when our security texted that there was an active shooter at the mall we were headed to. Saw dozens of police cars on the freeway and surface streets. Helicopters. We got back to the hotel and turned on the news to see what was happening."
Blink's show at UTEP Don Haskins Arena, scheduled for August 4, has been postponed "in solidarity with the community," the band stated on its social media channels.
Others who cancelled local shows include comedy act Everything Is Terrible!, scheduled to perform at Low Brow Palace on August 3rd, Mexican group Bronco, booked for the El Paso County Coliseum, and San Francisco synth band Part Time, who were due to take the stage at El Paso nightspot Love Buzz.