News of the Weird: Dec. 12, 2019

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Steak ’n’ Shakedown

Kentarias Gowans, 20, of Flowery Branch, Ga., came up with a novel way of celebrating Thanksgiving this year. He was scheduled to work at the Steak ’n’ Shake in Oakwood that day, but called in sick, and said he wouldn’t be in. But around 10 p.m. that evening, Gowans arrived at the restaurant with a handgun, which he held to another employee’s head while demanding money, the Gainesville Times reported. Multiple employees and customers called 911, and police arrived to see Gowans exiting the restaurant with his gun. He briefly raised the weapon, officers reported, but then dropped it, and he was taken into custody after a brief struggle.

Things That Go “Boeing!”

As Stephanie Leguia of Milton, Mass., and her neighbor, Wenhan Huang, chatted in Huang’s yard on Sunday, Dec. 1, an unusual object slammed to the ground just feet from where they stood. Their backs were turned when what looked like a “giant silver tarp” crashed down, reported the Boston Herald. On its way to the ground, it had lopped off four tree branches. “If it had hit us, we would have been dead,” Leguia said. Turns out the object was an uninflated silver evacuation slide that fell some thousands of feet from a Delta passenger airliner that was arriving in Boston from Paris. The FAA confirmed that the pilot had heard a loud noise as the Boeing jet aircraft approached Logan International Airport, but didn’t know what it was, and the plane landed without incident.

Hands Up, Honey

Callie Carswell of Morganton, N.C., and her fiancé, Clarence Moore III, allegedly staged an elaborate crime in the name of love just before Thanksgiving. Around 10 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 25, while Carswell worked at the Big Daddy convenience store, Moore entered the store carrying an ornamental sword and wearing a hat and bandanna to disguise his identity. He “demanded” money from Carswell, leaving with $2,960, the Morganton Department of Public Safety told The News Herald. When the “robber” left the store, she called 911. Police went on to work the case overnight; meanwhile, the loving couple made an early morning stop at Walmart to buy a ring and get engaged on the spot, documenting the big event on Facebook. But details of Carswell’s story didn’t add up, and investigators found evidence in her car and at their home that led them to arrest the crooked couple. Moore confessed to the crime, but Carswell was less contrite, shouting at reporters as she entered the courthouse: “I will assault you! I didn’t do it. Watch the fucking video, and you’ll see that I was fucking terrified! I wasn’t involved!” The couple’s been charged with armed robbery, misuse of 911 and filing a false police report.

Scandalous (Size: XL)

In The Hague, Netherlands, management at supermarket chain Albert Heijn is walking back a request that employees send in a photo of themselves in their underwear, in order to work out sizes for new uniforms. Workers were asked to use an “innovative mobile app” to submit the photos, AFP reported, but the company backed down after the complaints started rolling in. “The manager told us that if we don’t do it, we can’t be in the store anymore, because we don’t have the right corporate clothing,” said one 17-year-old employee who works at the Nijmegen branch. A spokesperson for the chain said that, “although [the] pictures were not visible to management, this should never have happened. We apologize to all involved.”

Cyr-ious Paranoia

Ronald Cyr, 65, of Van Buren, Maine, became the victim of his own trap on Thanksgiving Day when he was shot by a handgun that he had rigged to fire whenever someone opened his front door. Cyr was able to call 911 and say that he had been shot, WAGM reported, but he later died. When officers of the Van Buren Police Department arrived, they found that, along with the home’s front-door booby trap, other devices were set up in and around Cyr’s home, prompting them to call the Maine State Police bomb squad. (Homemade security devices that use weapons are illegal in the United States.)

Dueling Lithuanians

At her early December murder trial at Kingston Crown Court in Kingston, England, 35-year-old Asta Juskauskiene of Dartford was accused of arranging a duel between her estranged husband, Giedruis Juskaukus, 42, and her lover, 25-year-old Mantas Kvedaras. As the story goes, according to the Telegraph, the woman had left her husband and become acquainted with Kvedaras, who was serving time in a Lithuanian prison. He was released in May, and after his arrival in England, both men claimed Juskauskiene as their own. So, logically, she decided they should fight to the death in an alleyway on Monday, June 17—a duel which Juskaukus did not survive. He was found with 35 stab wounds to his body and neck, and Kvedaras confessed to the attack. The prosecutor, Hugh Davies, contends that Juskauskiene manipulated the two men, harbored Kvedaras after the incident and repeatedly lied to police.

© 2019 ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION