National Guard Marches Through Ontario Neighborhood, Sparking Conspiracy Theories
ONTARIO (CBSLA.com) — Ontario residents are divided after a video of National Guard troops marching through a neighborhood in the city went viral.
Conspiracy theories about martial law are swirling online since the video of the march, which took place last Saturday, hit the web.
"I believe that they're slowly but surely making their way into martial law," Ontario resident Vicente Martinez said. "They're trying to fool us by telling us it's a training and then when it actually does take place and actually does happen, there's nothing you're going to be able to do about it."
Martinez's feelings were echoed by some commenting online about the video.
"This is not normal and why would they do this in a civilian residential area and not on a militant base? This is becoming more and more of the new world order military police state," one person wrote.
The National Guard in Ontario told CBS2/KCAL9 training in the streets isn't illegal and sometimes they endurance train in residential neighborhoods because it's closer than a base.
While the event put some on edge, Ontario resident Ricard Ortiz thought it was great that his 8-year-old daughter, Nazareth, got to see the National Guard.
She didn't know women were in the military until last Saturday when they marched by.
"I think it's good to see the Army once in a while. Why not?" asked Ortiz.
"They just kept marching and singing all the way to another street over there," Nazareth said.
The Ontario Police Department confirmed it was notified about the scheduled training in advance in case anyone called concerned.
The training is also considered a part of community outreach, according to the National Guard.
