Look, we all love Lana Del Rey. Even when we can’t directly relate to her songs that seem to be about another universe, and even when her songs seem like they’re the world’s worst product placement for a soda brand, we love her haunting melodies.
Unfortunately, with fame and popularity come stalkers. And Lana Del Rey’s stalker was arrested after trying to kidnap her.
As you’ve probably guessed, this whole thing went down in Florida.
“OPD Media release on arrest of Michael Hunt, 43, who stalked, made threats against singer Lana Del Rey.”
First of all, we’re so glad that he was arrested and so horrified that this was happening in the first place.
Second of all, what is a guy named Michael Hunt doing stalking Lana Del Rey? A man with that name in his forties should clearly be the main character on a CBS drama that runs for way more season than anyone would have guessed.
“Working off a tip, OPD Officers were able to stop Hunt, who was armed with a knife, before he could get to the Amway Center.”
That is … absolutely terrifying. And there are further details.
Orlando Police shared further details:
“On Friday, February 2nd, Orlando Police received a tip about a possible kidnapping threat to singer Lana Del Rey (Elizabeth Woolridge Grant), who was scheduled to perform at the Amway Center that night.”
Absolutely horrifying.
“The threats were reportedly made by Michael Hunt, 43, of Riverview, Florida.”
We don’t know who called in the tip, but they may have saved lives.
“OPD detectives considered the information a credible threat, and took investigative measures to locate Hunt.”
“OPD Officers came in contact with Hunt at Hughey Avenue and Central Boulevard on Friday evening, one block from the Amway Center. When he was taken into custody, Hunt was in possession of tickets to the Lana Del Rey performance and a knife.”
To reiterate, they caught him before he could (allegedly) try anything.
“At no time was he able to make contact with Ms. Grant.”
That is such a relief.
“Hunt is currently being held at the Orange County Jail on no bond. The charges are Aggravated Stalking with a Credible Threat and Attempted Kidnapping with a Weapon.”
Those are some hefty charges.
The Orlando Police press release goes on to remind everyone that they always have security measures in place at these events, and that some of those measures are obviously visible while others are not.
They also acknowledge that, without the tip, it is unlikely that they would have found and detained Michael Hunt with such alacrity.
If he’d been caught in the act of carrying out his alleged plan, we can’t help but wonder what sorts of injuries might have been inflicted.
For her part, Lana Del Rey responded to fan concerns over Twitter:
“Hey kiddos. I’m doing fine thanks for the messages. And tomorrow we’ll be in Hotlanta can’t wait to see everyone. Yachty that means u.”
We’ve heard about Lana Del Rey’s struggles with depression and panic attacks. So there’s no way to know how much this is actually impacting her from one tweet.
Remember that story a few years ago about a stalker who’d broken into one of Lana’s homes while she was away and reported to the internet that they’d found mostly books about witchcraft?
On one level, that news is endearing (and you’d think that Lana Del Rey and Azealia Banks would bond over that, at least); on another, that it came from a stalker who broke in is nothing short of alarming.
Celebs deserve privacy within their own homes, no matter how public of a figure they might be. They also deserve to be safe from knife-wielding maniacs.
Lana Del Rey may seem like an eldritch apparition who hails from an alternate universe where everything’s black and white, but she’s a real person with real feelings.
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