California Woman Hospitalized After Viral Social Media Prank Goes Wrong

Lana Clay-Monaghan was shopping for baby items at a Target in Santa Ana on Sunday afternoon when something very unexpected occurred. According to KTLA, just as she went to select an item from the shelf, a group of teenage boys came up behind her and put a bucket over her head as part of the latest social media prank going viral on TikTok. Clay-Monaghan immediately fell to the ground and the boys ran out of the store. After fainting as a result of the traumatic event, she was taken to a local hospital.

“I was looking at some baby soap. I leaned down and my whole world changed. Everything went quiet, dark and there was really no air. I flipped off what was put over me, around my neck, and I turned around and looked over my left shoulder. To my dismay, it was a group of individuals who were filming me, seemingly for some sort of prank or maybe for something like TikTok.” 

Since the incident, Clay-Monaghan has been extremely cautious of her surroundings everywhere she goes.

“I keep looking over my shoulder. I’m a nervous wreck. I cannot believe that in my community you could go to Target, be in Target maybe a mere 10 to 15 minutes and someone would find it amusing to come and strategically find a female by herself in the baby aisle and think this would be funny or laughable for likes.” 

Tustin Police Department Lieutenant Ryan Co noted that the viral "prank" is in fact considered as assault.

“Obviously, in this case, it can have some pretty bad consequences, but at the end of the day it’s a crime. It’s an assault and battery on another person and we’re going to investigate it that way.” Police continue to investigate the incident and search for suspects.