Man Arrested After Trying To Return Pipe Bomb At Gun Buyback

Just what do you say to a thing like this.....aside from: Thank you sir, you're under arrest!

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A man was arrested during the city’s sixth gun buyback event over the weekend after showing up at a drop-off location with a homemade pipe bomb.

KNX1070′s Claudia Peschiutta reports that the man wanted to turn in the explosive.

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said the man “told the officers in the line that he had spoken to God that day, and God no longer wanted him to use that bomb to blow up the Hollywood sign, now he wanted him to turn it in.”

Source

There are stories to make you go Hmmmm? There are stories to make you sigh deeply and shake your head. Then there are stories to just make you freeze in mid step and say 'what the hell is happening out there?!'.

I think when someone goes to try and sell their homemade pipe bomb to Police at a gun buy back? I hope they don't put him in jail. I really don't. There are some innocent people in jail, awaiting trial after all. They did nothing to deserve that.

This ..ahem...Gentleman, needs a very long ..LOOONG..rest in a place like Atascadero. It's what folks used to call a hospital for the criminally insane, among other things it serves as. I believe they may have an open bed just for him....in a nice clean room with soft walls and no pipes or powder of any kind.

(shakes head) ...really. What are some people thinking??

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Seems like another fine example of the state of our mental health system.

Isnt blowing up the Hollywood sign one of those stereotypical crazy guy things like believing you're Napoleon? I wonder if he thought it would be funny and it backfired on him.

Love the mayor:

“You need one of those to defend your bedroom?” Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said of the weapon. “I mean, come on.”

No agenda there.

Well...when all is said and done at least (the man) did the right thing; and I hope he gets the help that he obviously needs.

Just because it was a bomb and not a gun, he shouldn't get penalized for it.



I think he was hoping to make some quick cash.

Didn't quite work out well for him.

reply to post by caladonea


Indeed, you're right and that is the bottom line. There is humor here, only because no one was hurt and everything ended well. However, the main issue is that this guy is ..ill. He needs help a whole lot more than a prison term. I hope he gets it.

I'm not sure who had a dream or premonition over in the prediction threads -

But someone did. I'm sure he/she'd be interested in this story. It's parallel's are interesting.

ETA: The poster was Foobler. He did much to interpret the dream and super-impose different events - rather than just let his original dream/prediction stand. Now that I reread over - it doesn't parallel as closely as I thought. For example, he saw a plane hitting the sign, not a bomb going off. Nevertheless, interesting.

It's pretty bad when someone didn't do anything wrong, instead turned him self in and was seeking help - but then arrest him? Ouch. Mad world.

Cirque

Depending on what the bomb was like they could not take a chance it was a live bomb that was going to be used to blow up the gun buy back. If it was remote controlled how would they not know it was a attack?

Here we go. Now we have to outlaw pipes. Or, at least we need to do a background check and mental illness check for anyone buying pipes in the United States. What we really need to do is have a register for anyone that has pipes in their homes! That will fix this pipe bomb issue.

IDK but arresting him was really dumb- He should have quietly been placed in treatment or let go.

WHY? Well, because the whole premise of "gun buyback" is so that people know they have a form of immunity when returning these weapons. To "Get them off the street"- The next idiot with a pipe bomb might remember this story when "God" tells him to turn his device in- he might tell "God". NO.

This could have been handled far differently.
On a side note: Gun Buybacks are a joke anyhow. Lots of scamming involved in the process and it generally yields junk which is worthless anyhow- The "hyped" in the press with pics of grenade launchers and such.

They took back a grenade launcher and didn't arrest that guy... which I would think would be worse than a home made pipe bomb.



This story is funny.

Originally posted by Manhater
They took back a grenade launcher and didn't arrest that guy... which I would think would be worse than a home made pipe bomb.

This story is funny.

without googling it I think the grenade launcher ended up being totally fake (as in a made up story for publicity)

I could be mistaken but dont have time to check atm- later I will update this thread if I find a link or discover I am incorrect.

reply to post by DarKPenguiN


For general reference.... They were AT-4 Anti-Tank launchers and they were real enough. I'd done a thread on it, actually. The catch was, they were not reloadable and these were fired tubes. So they were 100% conversation pieces. About as dangerous as the "Take a Number" with the novelty hand grenade that has a number on the pin, you can buy in some stores for a joke gift.

* Here is the link on that one LAPD Seize Rocket Launchers

These things are so political, it's funny in that way alone. At least until someone strolls up with a live pipe bomb. I'll bet those cops just about messed themselves when they realized it wasn't a mock up but a real IED.

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
reply to post by DarKPenguiN

 

For general reference.... They were AT-4 Anti-Tank launchers and they were real enough. I'd done a thread on it, actually. The catch was, they were not reloadable and these were fired tubes. So they were 100% conversation pieces. About as dangerous as the "Take a Number" with the novelty hand grenade that has a number on the pin, you can buy in some stores for a joke gift.

* Here is the link on that one LAPD Seize Rocket Launchers

These things are so political, it's funny in that way alone. At least until someone strolls up with a live pipe bomb. I'll bet those cops just about messed themselves when they realized it wasn't a mock up but a real IED.

edit on 7-5-2013 by Wrabbit2000 because: (no reason given)

Ahhhhhh- How right you are.
I know in Detroit, YEARS ago they got some grenades they made a huge deal about- Thing was, the grenades were "real" but inert and filled with Lead (something you used to be able to buy from collectors- Not sure anymore) - Essentially a paperweight.

-Thanks for clarifying.

He should've waited for the Pipe Bomb buy back day.

Then there wouldn't have been an issue.