Bizarre News - July 4, 2015

Greetings fellow Bizarros:

Sure, fireworks are dangerous as we saw in last week's issue of Bizarre News where a man killed himself in a pre-Independence Day stunt with an explosive, but firearms are even more dangerous, especially if your job is training mentally disturbed people to handle them.

31-year-old Veronica Lewis of Vermont, is accused of shooting her firearms instructor in the face during their second lesson, police said.

Lewis allegedly fired three shots at 48-year-old Darryl Montague earlier this week, hitting him twice in the jaw and once in the abdomen.

The attack occurred at the Montague's place of business. Montague runs a licensed firearms company called Vermont Target Sports.

Lewis is said to have mental issues and she lives at a mental health facility. She previously lived in New York City, where she had a lengthy criminal record.

How a woman with such extensive mental health issues made it as far as 2 classes in firearms training was not made clear.

After the shooting, police said they found a .22 caliber pistol and a hammer in her backpack. The attack is considered premeditated because of the presence of the hammer. Lewis was charged with first degree attempted urder.

Of course, the victim of the shooting lived, while the guy who performed the stunt with the explosive died, so maybe fireworks are more dangerous than firearms after all. Maybe in the future Mr. Montague will do a more detailed background check before he lets just anybody into his classes.

Bizarrely,
Lewis

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Questions? Comments? Email Lewis


*-- Police: Florida motorist accidentally jumped drawbridge --*
PALM BEACH, Fla. (UPI) - Cameras mounted on a Florida drawbridge captured the moment a distracted driver jumped the gap as the bridge was rising. The Palm Beach Police Department said James Montano, 29, became an unwitting daredevil when he blew through a lowering arm on the Flagler Memorial Bridge and drove up the rising bridge to jump the gap and stop on the other side. "Basically it was a distracted driver incident," Officer Philip Salm told WPTV. "The driver stated that he was looking at his GPS unit while driving across the bridge and did not see the stop arm in the down position until he crashed through it," Capt. Curtis Krauel told The Palm Beach Post. "He did not show any visible indicators of impairment." Salm said lucky timing allowed Montano to make it over the gap and survive the accidental stunt. "The implications of what could have happened, had he hit at a different time or he hit the ramp and went over the side, you're talking about a potentially fatal accident," Salm said. Montano was cited for reckless driving. He and a passenger were treated for minor injuries, police said. The bridge was closed for about five hours while crews worked to repair damage.


*-- British festival launches egg 21.7 miles toward space --*
SWATON, England (UPI) - Organizers of an egg tossing event in Britain said an attempt to launch an egg into space reached an altitude of nearly 22 miles. The Swaton Vintage Day and World Egg Throwing Championships featured the "Eggsplorer 1" weather balloon launch, which took took an egg to an altitude of 21.7 miles before returning to Earth east of Hull. A video of the launch was shared on YouTube, but organizers said the onboard camera failed to send any pictures back to mission control during the flight. A helium egg balloon was also launched at the event and was later found less than 13 miles from the Danish border. Festival organizers said they are making plans to launch Eggsplorer 2 at next year's celebration.


*-- READER COMMENTS --*
Lewis; Granted the man who held a firecracker to his face and suffered traumatic brain injury didn't rank very high on the intelligence scale, however, thinking all people cannot be trusted to themselves is the slippery slope many left leaning people get trapped into thinking. The thinking is because of one or two morons that laws need to be written to cover everyone. Life has a way of weeding out the terminally stupid. -Wes

Your fireworks story sent me down memory lane. Growing up, my grandfather was a faithful listener to Paul Harvey's noon news report. Without fail, every July 5th newscast would consist of a listing of the various accidents across the country at fireworks displays put on by professionals, as well as the backyard display accidents.

Lewis...Regarding the story about the guy who died from the firecracker to the face.... at least good ol' Scott Jeffers went out with a bang!
[Can you imagine the poor guy's family having to tell that story?]

*-- END OF READER COMMENTS --*
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