Shocking video captured a daredevil walking a rope between two downtown Los Angeles skyscrapers.

Oceanwide Plaza, a $1 billion mixed-use retail and luxury apartment building, has been vacant for years and has become infamously known as the graffiti towers, attracting artists and those looking to perform death-defying stunts.

YouTuber Ben Schneider was the latest to attempt a stunt at the location when he walked across a slackline between the buildings, looming high above the L.A. skyline.

Schneider, a self-proclaimed performance artist and daredevil, posts videos under the YouTube handle “Reckless Ben” and has amassed over 350,000 subscribers.

Despite a police perimeter surrounding the buildings, Schenider said he was able to slip past any watchful eyes on May 12.

“We pretended we were a religious cult and we got 20 people to all hold signs saying ‘Jesus Saves’ and the signs were blocking the police’s point of view so we just hopped the fence,” he said.

Inside the building, he and his team members climbed 500 feet up the tower multiple times to string together and tighten two one-inch nylon straps between the towers.

While holding a camera attached to a selfie stick, Schneider carefully mounts the line and begins walking across the rope, his camera capturing the soaring viewpoint and moving traffic down below.

“I call it moral graffiti,” Schneider said of his stunt. “I’m a moral graffiti artist. I vandalize buildings without causing any building damage.”

Schneider, who is an experienced slackliner, spent over two minutes walking the line while attached to a safety harness.

“I was pretty confident that Ben could pull it off,” said Lydia Ren, Schneider’s team member who served as a lookout during the stunt. “I just do this for fun. This is not a job. I actually work at a VR startup so this is like my weekend thing.”

Once police realized there were trespassers inside the towers, authorities began searching the premises. Schneider was seen hiding in a bathtub and covering himself with plywood. He stayed there for several hours before finally exiting the building and evading arrest.

Despite the name of his YouTube handle, Schneider said he’s well aware of the dangers of such stunts. 

“Everything’s dangerous,” he said. “Driving a car is dangerous, but we still drive. The stunt I did was dangerous but I think the reward outweighed the risk because I think we inspired a lot of people. I got to push myself out of my comfort zone. We got to do something scary and inspire the world to go live their best life.”

Oceanwide Plaza is a $1 billion mixed-use retail and luxury apartment project with three unfinished structures. Construction had stalled in January 2019 after the developer lacked the funds to complete it.

The complex, which is located in the heart of downtown L.A.’s entertainment district, has attracted many artists which have since covered over 27 stories of its exterior with graffiti.

The building has been an ongoing problem for police and city leaders due to constant trespassing for those eager to tag the building, perform death-defying stunts, and or even BASE jump.

In March 2024, city council members agreed to allot $3.8 million to clean up and secure the site, which has seen numerous arrests in the weeks since the tagging began.

Footage of Schneider’s stunt can be seen in the video player above.

The Santa Ana Police Department announced a man has been convicted of second-degree murder for the 2020 slaying of a 57-year-old woman.

Officers made a grisly discovery on Oct. 26, 2020 when they responded to a call about an unconscious woman in a vehicle located in the 600 block of West Russell Street.

When they arrived, they found the body of Natalia Gamino Jaimes. She had been reported missing four days earlier from the city of Lake Forest.

After Jaimes’ death was ruled a homicide, investigators identified Jose Valdez Jimenez as the suspect. Detectives served several search warrants and tried to contact Jimenez several times, before determining that he had fled the country.

Although Jimenez had escaped to Mexico, authorities were able to get in contact with him by phone. In January of 2021, Jimenez called a detective and confessed that he had strangled Jaimes to death and drove her body to Santa Ana, leaving the woman inside a vehicle.

Authorities began the extradition process between the U.S. and Mexico and began to zone in on capturing Jimenez.

Deputies caught a break a short time later. On May 26, 2021, Jimenez contacted the same detective and told him that he was at the Mexican border and was ready to turn himself in to authorities.

Jimenez was arrested without incident and charged with murder.

On Friday, a jury convicted Jimenez of second-degree murder. He will be sentenced at a later hearing.

The Los Angeles Police Department and Hyundai are partnering to host a free anti-theft event this weekend so drivers can receive an important software update to help prevent vehicle thefts.

The software update is needed for select trim levels of all Hyundai models from 2011 to 2021.

Hyundai and Kia vehicles became the targets of thieves following a viral social media trend in which step-by-step instructions were provided to demonstrate how to steal them.

The “Kia Challenge” showed viewers how to “bypass the vehicles’ security features, dismantle their steering columns and create direct access to their ignitions,” Hyundai said. The videos challenged others to recreate and share proof of the thefts.

Thefts were so rampant that some Hyundai and Kia drivers were dropped from their auto insurance providers.

Vehicles susceptible to the thefts are Hyundai vehicles without push-button ignitions and “immobilizing anti-theft devices.” Hyundai estimates about 4 million vehicles, primarily base trim models, were vulnerable to these thefts.

Both automakers have rolled out security updates and have urged owners to take their vehicles in to a dealership to have it installed.

Still, both makes remain heavily targeted by thieves.

Earlier this week, KTLA and Crosstown reported that reports of stolen vehicles were skyrocketing in the San Fernando Valley. Kia and Hyundai vehicles had the highest number of thefts.

Hyundai officials are urging drivers to get their vehicle into the dealer or find a free update clinic.

This weekend’s event is taking place at Eagle Rock Plaza at 2828 Colorado Blvd. The update will be installed by specially trained Hyundai technicians and will take about 30 minutes to complete.

Drivers can receive the software update free of charge on either Friday or Saturday from 8 a.m to 6 p.m., or Sunday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. No appointments are needed, officials said.

In addition to the update, the LAPD will be giving away free steering wheel locks to all Hyundai drivers. Steering wheel locks are anti-theft devices meant to make a vehicle inoperable by locking the steering wheel in place and can only be opened with a specific key.

For more information about the Hyundai software update and where to find a clinic, click here.