Police said a woman already tied to a restraining order threw an unknown substance at the former Fleetwood Mac guitarist.
SANTA MONICA, CA — Lindsey Buckingham was attacked outside a building in Santa Monica on Wednesday morning when a woman threw an unknown substance toward him as he arrived for an appointment, authorities said. The 76-year-old former Fleetwood Mac guitarist was not injured.
The incident quickly drew attention beyond the music world because police said the woman was already known to Buckingham through an earlier stalking case and had been the subject of action by the Los Angeles Police Department’s threat management unit. The encounter also appeared to test a court order obtained in late 2024 that required the woman to stay away from Buckingham and his family. Investigators said the case remained open this week, with Santa Monica police and LAPD working together and an arrest expected.
Authorities said the attack happened as Buckingham entered a building for an appointment in Santa Monica. Investigators believe the woman learned where and when he would be there, then waited for him to arrive. As Buckingham approached the entrance, she tossed an unknown substance from a container in his direction and fled, according to law enforcement accounts. Buckingham was not harmed, and officials have not said that he needed medical treatment. LAPD Capt. Mike Bland said the department’s threat management unit was working with the Santa Monica Police Department on the case. Bland said no further details would be released while the investigation remained active. Representatives for Buckingham did not publicly comment in the immediate aftermath.
The episode did not come out of nowhere. Court records described a long pattern of alleged stalking and harassment that Buckingham said had built over several years. In a filing tied to the restraining-order case, Buckingham identified the woman as Michelle Dick and said her conduct included repeated calls, threatening voicemails and unwanted appearances near homes connected to him and his relatives. He also said she taped a photo collage of herself and Buckingham to his mailbox. A detective who supported the request for court protection wrote that Dick insisted she was Buckingham’s child and described her as dangerous and mentally unstable. Those allegations helped persuade a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge to issue an order requiring her to stay at least 100 yards away from Buckingham, his wife and his son and to avoid any contact or harassment.
Buckingham’s court filings said the dispute reached a sharper point in November 2024, when he told a judge that the woman placed a false emergency call claiming there had been gunfire inside his home. He said police responded, handcuffed him and cleared the house before determining the report was false. Buckingham told the court that the incident, along with the alleged threats and repeated attempts at contact, made him fear for his safety and for the safety of his family. A judge later granted the restraining order. Wednesday’s confrontation in Santa Monica appeared to fit the same pattern investigators had already been tracking: an alleged fixation, repeated efforts to reach Buckingham and a move from messages and proximity to a face-to-face encounter in public. Police have not publicly said what the substance was or whether testing was underway.
The case also underscored how stalking complaints involving public figures can move across both criminal and civil tracks. In California, restraining orders can be used to set distance and no-contact rules even before a new criminal charge is filed. Police, meanwhile, may investigate whether an encounter amounts to stalking, harassment, battery, violation of a court order or another offense, depending on the evidence. In this case, officials have been careful not to say which charge, if any, prosecutors may seek. That leaves several key questions unanswered, including whether the woman will be arrested on suspicion of violating the restraining order, whether surveillance video captured the attack and whether investigators can show she intentionally tracked Buckingham’s appointment. For now, police have said only that they identified the suspect and expected enforcement action.
The attack landed at a moment when Buckingham had returned to the headlines for reasons far removed from police work. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, long known as a singer, songwriter and guitarist for Fleetwood Mac, had recently spoken publicly about new creative work and a more hopeful outlook for 2026. His later career has already been marked by upheaval, including his 2018 split from Fleetwood Mac and a heart attack in 2019 that led to triple-bypass surgery and damage to his vocal cords during treatment. Those events turned his recent public comments into a story of recovery and renewed momentum. Wednesday’s confrontation shifted attention back to personal safety, celebrity stalking and the limits of court orders when a suspect is accused of escalating rather than backing away.
What happens next will likely turn on routine but important steps: interviews, physical evidence, any security footage and the review of the existing restraining order. Police have not announced a booking, filing decision or court date. They also have not said whether Santa Monica officers or LAPD detectives are seeking additional witnesses who may have seen the encounter outside the building. If prosecutors conclude the woman violated the order, that finding could shape both the criminal case and any future court action tied to Buckingham’s protection. If the unknown substance is identified and deemed harmful, that could affect the seriousness of any charge. Until then, investigators appear to be treating the matter as part of a broader pattern they already knew well rather than as a random street incident.
For Buckingham, the scene was a jarring interruption to an ordinary errand. He was headed into a building for an appointment, not onto a stage or into a crowd, when the confrontation unfolded. The detail matters because it suggests a level of planning that investigators are now examining. Law enforcement officials said they believed the woman found out his schedule in advance. That point, if supported by evidence, would add weight to the stalking history described in court filings. It also helps explain why the LAPD’s threat management unit, a specialized team that handles stalking and threat cases, became involved alongside Santa Monica police. The public record so far paints a narrow but troubling picture: a musician with a standing court order for protection, a suspect already known to him and another alleged act that brought them into direct contact despite that order.
The case stood Thursday without a reported injury, without a publicly announced arrest and without an identified substance, but with investigators saying they knew who they were looking at. The next clear milestone is a police announcement on any arrest or charge tied to the Santa Monica encounter.
Author note: Last updated April 3, 2026.