Citizen app told locals to "hunt" down a man for starting a California fire, offered reward – but had the wrong guy

The "personal safety network" app Citizen ignited a vigilante hunt for a man they identified as the suspect of a California brush fire that tore through Pacific Palisades over the weekend, burning 1,325 acres. The irresponsible app posted a photo of the so-called "suspect," started a live broadcast that asked listeners to "hunt this guy down," and "bring this guy to justice," and even offered $30,000 to anyone who caught the man. But after all that, Citizen had the wrong dude.

From Daily Dot:

Los Angeles police questioned the man and eliminated him as a suspect, the Los Angeles Times reports. In fact, the man in the photo wasn't who an LAPD officer in a helicopter had seen igniting fires.

In a statement to the Times, Citizen said that the photo being posted was an "error" and that they did not have "formal coordination with the appropriate agencies."

"We publicly posted the photo and offered a cash reward for information without formal coordination with the appropriate agencies. Once we realized this error, we immediately retracted the photo and reward offer. We are actively working to improve our internal processes to ensure this does not occur again. This was a mistake we are taking very seriously," Citizen told the Times.