ECS bomb scare leads to studio evacuation

Following a suspected bomb threat, ECS had its entire staff evacuate the studio. Discovering a suspicious package in a trash can near the building, the Santa Monica Police Department had asked everyone to evacuate for their safety. 

During the FACEIT stream, commentator James Bardolph was the first to share the situation with viewers. “So the police think there’s potentially a bomb outside, so our building might get evacuated, they’ve closed off the street outside. There’s a bomb squad on the way,” he said. 

The evacuation announcement was made while Team Liquid and eUnited were preparing for their CS:GO ECS Season 8 NA Qualifiers match. As a result, the stream was immediately delayed while the match continued off-stream. The Europe Qualifiers were also underway at the time and continued with no commentary.

The SMPD has since announced that the situation is safe with no threat to the public from the package. The whole incident lasted for about two hours and thankfully resulted in no injury or damage to property.