Jogger’s odd gear causes response
Long Hoang, 29, of San Jose wears a cardio mask and weighted vest by CrossFit. (Photo courtesy of Long Hoang.)
We’ve become a very jumpy society, sometimes overreacting to strange sights and people.
For instance, when a man wearing unusual jogging gear that looked like a gas mask and what some thought was body armor was seen trying to jam something into a Post Office drop box in San Jose, CA, another postal customer sounded the alarm and first responders turned out in force.
The call touched off a full scale response, complete with the police bomb squad and a robot, the Fire Department’s hazmat unit and the postal inspector, according to the Mercury News. The bomb squad’s robot detonated the package, which turned out, police said, to be a bunch of unwanted calendars.
The post office was shut down for about four hours with 150 employees and customers tucked away in the back. In the end, police said the suspicious-looking jogger was only working out in hard-core, albeit odd-looking, exercise gear.
“The guy said he was wearing a cardio mask,” said Sgt. Jason Dwyer.
“It was his cardio day, and he was trying to lose weight.” Long Hoang, the college student jogger, reported that about 12 weeks earlier, he became an avid follower of the CrossFit exercise regimen, which he said, combines “this really creative combination of weight lifting, gymnastics and rowing.” He wears the mask to simulate high-altitude training.
Still, Hoang says he won’t be jogging to the post office again anytime soon.
ATF classifies pot scrubber a silencer
Has the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives added a “Kitchen Sink” branch? David Codrea the National Gun Rights Examiner, was perhaps first to report that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Firearms Technology Branch had deemed “Chore Boy copper cleaning pads, along with fiberglass insulation,” a firearm, subject to registration and a $200 transfer tax.
Codrea cited an official ATF letter obtained by the Gun Rights Examiner reveals issued in response to an attorney inquiry signed by John R. Spencer, chief, Firearms Technology Branch.
The letter offered one of the more creatively restrictive assessments since ATF declared a shoestring to be a machinegun, Codrea observed.
The rationale Spencer uses: A silencer is a firearm per US Code, subject to National Firearms Act registration and transfer tax requirements.
“[S]ound/gas absorbing materials manufactured from Chore Boy copper cleaning pads, along with fiberglass insulation, constitute a silencer…” “Therefore, it is illegal for an individual to replace deteriorated material within an already-registered suppressor without an approved ATF Form 1, ‘Application to Make and Register a Firearm,’” along with a “$200.00 making tax” and “a ‘no-marking’ variance…since there is no viable area in which to apply a serial number to the sound-absorbing material.” And further, Codrea observed, an otherwise-lawful owner of a registered silencer probably ought to find something else to clean pots and pans with, as possession of an unspecified quantity of Chore Boy cleaning pads could be considered a “stockpile.” Grocery burglar in CA crashes out Maybe he didn’t have one of those discount cards grocery chains issue these days, or else he was in private enterprise as copper recycler, but he crashed out big time.
An Albertson’s supermarket in Garden Grove, CA, was evacuated in November after a burglary suspect fell through the ceiling to the ground near a cash register, CBS Los Angeles reported.
Police say around 9:30 p.m., a female shopper reported seeing a man’s leg descend from the ceiling before disappearing again. The customer then alerted the store’s manager before the suspect suddenly came crashing to the ground by the checkout lane.
At least a dozen police officers along with a fire truck responded immediately.
Police used fire ladders to search the crawlspace above the ceiling for more suspects, but none was found.
Officials believe the man, who remained in custody, was attempting to steal copper wiring from the supermarket.
MD flash mob shoplifts 7-Eleven
Here’s a story from the “It Takes a Village” file.
About 50 people simultaneously shoplifted from a Silver Spring, MD, 7- Eleven on the night of Nov. 19, according to an NBC News Washington report.
Officers arriving at the store after 11:20 p.m. saw several people gathered in surrounding parking lots and on side streets, police said. They began to disperse when police arrived. The shoplifters—described as teens and young adults—took items including snacks and drinks, police said Police stopped a group of six people ages 16-18 in the neighborhood. Each had items from the 7-Eleven but no receipts, police said. Detectives were reported investigating whether the shoplifters had attended a birthday party in the area, police said.
In August, a flash mob of dozens of young people entered a 7-Eleven in Germantown and took items without paying, police said.
Flash mob crime in the county has prompted lawmakers to consider teen loitering legislation and a teen curfew.
