Wicked Local Burlington reports the Burlington Mall was evacuated and police from five towns - and the State Police and a regional SWAT unit - called in for what was reported as a man with a rifle, who turned out to be a man with an umbrella.
Neighborhoods:
Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!
Ad:
Comments
Media coverage of this non-event was grossly overblown
By O-FISH-L
Tue, 04/19/2011 - 4:46pm
Media coverage of this non-event was grossly overblown. I'm all for interrupting nonsensical daytime programming for a major breaking news story, but to do so based on one caller who "thought" someone "might" have a rifle was ridiculous. At one point, one of the local news helicopters (I believe ch.7's) was chasing after the State Police helictoper that was leaving the area, apparently after getting the all clear before the press was notified. Around the same time, a breathless Victoria Block reported "someone being taken away in the back of a police cruiser" as if the situation was for real. Enough!
Apparently ...
By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 04/19/2011 - 4:56pm
The caller had never seen the type of umbrella used by people who actually walk considerable distances in the rain, rather than the disposable microshield used to get from car to door and back again.
I'd lay odds that the caller had never seen a real rifle, either.
Lol...
By ClariNerd617
Tue, 04/19/2011 - 6:31pm
What odds are you talking here?
i am most concerned...
By bandit
Tue, 04/19/2011 - 4:58pm
that the globe article ends with the sentence "The Burlington Mall was used as the setting for the Kevin James comedy movie "Paul Blart: Mall Cop".
when did we become most well known for a kevin james movie?
Haha
By anon
Tue, 04/19/2011 - 5:09pm
That sounds like a Globe writer being a smart-aleck. I wonder how many heads that flew over.
I wonder how many heads that
By Anon²
Tue, 04/19/2011 - 6:27pm
At least one! Right, bandit?
I didn't know that . . .
By Chris Dowd
Tue, 04/19/2011 - 5:49pm
. . . movie was shot there. Cute movie. B minus though - last 20 minutes you can walk away from.
Some of it
By Eighthman
Wed, 04/20/2011 - 7:24am
Some was in Burlington, some was in Braintree.
Five different people thought
By anon2
Tue, 04/19/2011 - 5:31pm
Five different people thought the umbrella handle sticking out of the backpack was a gun. To me it looks like a samurai sword... not sure why a grown man would be carrying an umbrella that resembles a sword, but hey I guess that's just me.
I have the same umbrella.
By escapedfromeastie
Tue, 04/19/2011 - 8:32pm
I have the same umbrella. It's supposed to look like a samurai sword. I don't see how it looks like a gun at all, but, ya know, people. Nobody has ever made a stink about it before, but I also don't carry it around my shoulder (it comes with a scabbard for this purpose, as seen in the picture), as it's kind of a pain.
I'm a grown man, my wife likes my samurai umbrella, if you know what I mean.
I have that same umbrella
By pierce
Tue, 04/19/2011 - 10:00pm
I have that same umbrella too--got it as a christmas present. I actually get alot of compliments on it from people who, like me, think its funny. Every so often I'll hear people pass me on the sidewalk and say "that dude has a sword"!
I will not be taking it with me my next trip to Logan
I too have that same umbrella
By anon
Wed, 04/20/2011 - 9:42am
The MBTA police have stopped me and asked me to show them it was an umbrella and then let me on my way. So what does that say about the state of security at the Burlington Mall when the MBTA police are more competent?
Holy cow...
By ClariNerd617
Tue, 04/19/2011 - 6:36pm
I'm at school in Minnesota, and the news just broke here....this is even more ridiculous than the "Spring Spheres" story....
Yeah, except...
By anon
Tue, 04/19/2011 - 9:39pm
The Spring Spheres story was most likely a hoax.
http://thedailywh.at/2011/04/14/anatomy-of-an-outr...
What would an umbrella crisis be without ...
By adamg
Tue, 04/19/2011 - 8:51pm
A Q&A?