The same exact thing happened last month in Virginia, right down to the umbrella guy calling up police after he'd left, unaware of the commotion. One key difference: He wasn't packing a ninja umbrella:
Of course, Umbrella Guy showed Caldwell his umbrella. The detective described it as a large, black umbrella with a brown wooden handle. It was a like a large, black golf umbrella, without the company logo, Caldwell said.
Via Mike Ward.
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Comments
So you mean I can't blame
By anon
Wed, 04/20/2011 - 11:31am
So you mean I can't blame this on liberal Massachusetts not being able to tell the difference between a rifle and an umbrella?
you still can
By pierce
Wed, 04/20/2011 - 11:55am
don't let something as measly as fact stand in your way
Nope
By SomerVillain
Wed, 04/20/2011 - 12:09pm
You can blame it on the increased militarization of police forces across the country since the start of the War on Drugs.
Somebody spotted a guy holding something? And it was black?! Quick! Deploy the Tactical Winnebago and a few dozen poorly trained guys with automatic rifles! If we don't, next year's budget for Batman gadgets may be slightly smaller!
That's a stretch. Shouldn't
By central squared
Wed, 04/20/2011 - 1:30pm
That's a stretch. Shouldn't you be driving around high as a kite or something, slowly running over people?
American Coward
By chicken
Wed, 04/20/2011 - 12:31pm
We're scared of everything.
It's amazing to me
By Anon²
Wed, 04/20/2011 - 12:54pm
That at a time with the lowest historical crime rates ever (yes, slightly up with the depression, but still); that people are running around frantically scared like chickens with their heads cut off.
huh?
By anon
Wed, 04/20/2011 - 5:26pm
Which people were running around frantically? I didn't see any mall workers that were interviewed in a state of panic. Furthermore, one woman who was interviewed by phone while still in the mall, was laughing and saying that she felt confident that she wasn't in any danger and everything seemed calm, orderly and under control. All who were interviewed reported that NO ONE was panicking. I think you're concocting an overly zealous piece of fiction in your mind.
If anybody was panicking over the umbrella
By anon
Sun, 04/24/2011 - 10:42pm
that was mistaken for a rifle, it was the police. The fact that an umbrella can be mistaken for a rifle shows how far this country has fallen, especially since 9/11.