Umbrella leads to SWAT team response at MA mall

4/19/11

Police received an urgent call reporting that a man was carrying a rifle in the Burlington Mall in Burlington, MA. State and federal response teams were deployed. The mall was evacuated. Four helicopters and a 40 member SWAT team wearing body armor were sent to the mall.

It was later determined that the suspect, who had already left the mall, was in fact carrying an umbrella (and on a rainy day, no less). Hearing of the news reports while at work, the suspect turned himself in.

http://theworldlink.com/news/national/article_474a78b7-a16a-5277-9c4c-fc1ca0ee119d.html

This kind of response unfortunately seems not out of character for suburban boston. I recall reading a story about a man who called 911 to report "a squirrel acting suspiciously".

 

At least he didn't get shot and killed like this luckless fellow in London who was carrying a table leg... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/460116.stm

 

that's a hell of a thing. I hope that it at least led to a change in standard operating procedures for the police so that something like this won't happen again

 

I don't think the coppers who shot him ever had to answer charges. There's a bit more backround here, interviews with the guy's family and such. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/1343572.stm

Then there's Jean Charles De Menezes, shot on the London tube. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Jean_Charles_de_Menezes

How does a squirrel act suspiciously by the way?

 

You ever hang with this cat named Orison?

 

I think the caller thought the squirrel was rabid

I heard about the guy who got shot on the tube

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwuxQQlGqTI"]YouTube - Suspicion - Elvis Presley - Dedicated To All My YT Friends