Valentine's Teddy Bear bomb warning

February 13, 2002 7:41 PM

Valentine's Teddy Bear bomb warning The FBI said a man, "possibly of Arab descent", bought 14 gas canisters, 12 packages of lead gun pellets and nine white Valentine teddy bears at Stevenson Ranch in California on January 15. Please be careful.
posted by Tarrama (16 comments total)

I was once behind a woman in line at the drug store that had condoms, a bottle of wine, and some dog biscuits in hand. Weird stuff happens.
posted by machaus at 7:49 PM on February 13, 2002

Thank god I read this in time! I almost got flowers for my sweetheart, but if there are people who are possibly of Arab descent out and about who also have access to our valentines' gift stores, well then who knows what could happen!! Sorry, sweetheart — no gift this year. It's just not safe.
posted by sylloge at 7:51 PM on February 13, 2002

So the shopkeeper who encountered this customer thought the purchases were suspicious but then didn't bother to get a name, a license number, a decent description.

I would feel sorry for this customer if it was just and inopportune combination of purchases, but better for one person to answer a few questions than leave the other 14 million people (Los Angeles Area population) wondering.

So many of these "threats" could be addressed when and where they start instead of panicking everyone with their vagueness.
posted by dewelch at 7:55 PM on February 13, 2002

I want to shop where you can buy 14 gas canisters, 12 packages of lead gun pellets and nine white Valentine teddy bears, all in the same store!

Nine white Valentine teddy bears? Maybe he's going to ice the Brady Bunch (Alice included).
posted by evanizer at 8:00 PM on February 13, 2002

Lead pellets? Aren't they bad for teddy bears?

I suspect it is some loner who is going to use the bears for shotgun target practice to deal with the fact that he didn't get an candy heart. Then he will use his propane blowtorch to dry out his palm pilot. The photographs of the final results will then be enhanced and posted to the web
posted by srboisvert at 8:07 PM on February 13, 2002

I'm sticking with stuff, genre La Perla.
posted by ParisParamus at 8:11 PM on February 13, 2002

Once, when I was shopping with a girlfriend, we bought a cucumber, baby oil, condoms, cherries, redi-whip, a shower curtain, and a frozen pizza...

this was all for kicks because the guy at the checkout had made the comment "I know what you are doing tonight" the night before when we bought wine, pasta and sauce.
posted by hotdoughnutsnow at 8:20 PM on February 13, 2002

At the drugstore once, I stood behind a man wearing biker shorts, waiting for him to pay for his chewing gum, cigarettes, condoms and plastic enema kit, I shit you not.
posted by donkeyschlong at 9:33 PM on February 13, 2002

I want to shop where you can buy 14 gas canisters, 12 packages of lead gun pellets and nine white Valentine teddy bears, all in the same store!

You've never been to a Wal-Mart?
posted by aaron at 9:45 PM on February 13, 2002

At the drugstore once, I stood behind a man wearing biker shorts, waiting for him to pay for his chewing gum, cigarettes, condoms and plastic enema kit, I shit you not.

You shit us not, sure, but can the same be said of him?
posted by jonmc at 10:24 PM on February 13, 2002

At the drugstore once, I stood behind a man wearing biker shorts, waiting for him to pay for his chewing gum, cigarettes, condoms and plastic enema kit, I shit you not.

These items aren't like fresh produce. He didn't necessarily go home and use them all that night. Granted, I don't know if people stock up on enema bags "just in case," but still, maybe he is the overly cautious type.
posted by Doug at 10:30 PM on February 13, 2002

um...i left a bit of a bomb in the restroom a couple of minutes ago. y'all might want to wait awhile before going in.
posted by lescour at 10:31 PM on February 13, 2002

one day a customer went up to the register and dropped down on the conveyer a six-pack of domestic brew, microwave burritoes, and an action film.

the register girl looked at him and said, 'you must be a bachelor'.

'how'd you figure?' he asked, 'was it the beer or the movie?'

'neither', she replied, 'you're fucking ugly.'
posted by jcterminal at 10:42 PM on February 13, 2002

I once bought aspirin, some of that "magic shell" ice cream topping, and a plastic funnel in a single transaction. I had wholly independent reasons for needing all three, of course, but that didn't stop the checkout person from casting some mighty quizzical looks in my direction along the way....
posted by youhas at 12:17 AM on February 14, 2002

I was working in B&Q when 3 uniformed firemen came in to the store, went into the garden centre and bought a hosepipe. The funniest thing ever.
posted by ajbattrick at 12:25 AM on February 14, 2002

Of all the places to site this hoax from Australia, why Stevenson Ranch?
posted by Carol Anne at 6:34 AM on February 14, 2002