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Apparently this was a police bulletin, although usually stories like this are just that, stories.

I understand that. It is just a viral trolling campaign.

Apparently this was a police bulletin, although usually stories like this are just that, stories.

You're probably right........... and I certainly hope so too.

Apparently this was a police bulletin, although usually stories like this are just that, stories.

This is an updated version of an urban legend from about 15 years ago. Back then, the rumor was that gang initiates were driving around with their headlights off, and had to track down and kill the first person who blinked his lights at them.

Then, as now, it was a "gang initiation," but it was the Crips and/or Bloods rather than MS13. To folks who follow urban legends, this is a familiar pattern; an old legend adapts to new fears.

The old version, dubbed "Lights out," spread largely through police communication channels in 1993 or 94, before most folks had Internet access or cell phone text messages. My girlfriend at the time called me to warn me of the threat. Her sister, an ER nurse, had heard it from a cop who brought in an injured person. That was on a Friday night; by the time Sunday morning's paper came around, the AJC was describing it as a myth.

Snopes has the current rumor first sighted on March 26, and cites warnings from Talahassee, Buffalo, Wilmington and Fayeteville NC, Baltimore, unspecified areas of Northern California, and New Jersey, I think (a lot of the messages specify counties I can't immediately place). Compare and contrast with the old Lights Out myth.

I'm considering it an urban legend until and unless there are credible and verifiable reports that this has actually happened.