Sydney

Toy gun shuts down U.S. House office building

The incident began shortly after 1 p.m. when U.S. Capitol police noticed an image of what appeared to be a .38-caliber revolver on an X-ray machine at the building's south entrance.

Police notified employees in the building that they were searching for a man and a woman who breached security. They said a man grabbed a backpack and ran off after the apparent revolver was detected.

After learning of the incident, two women who work in the office of Rep. John Shimkus, R-Illinois, came forward. Shimkus' office notified Capitol Police, according to a statement released by his office.

The women had placed bags containing Halloween costumes through the X-ray machine, U.S. Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer told reporters shortly before 3 p.m.

The clothing and prop that triggered the situation was a costume of "Sydney," the character Jennifer Garner plays in ABC's "Alias."

Passenger's trunk sets off bomb scare: Wanted to look like 'Ghostbusters' characters

Items packed in a steamer trunk -- intended for Halloween costumes, said the trunk's owner -- set off airport explosive detection systems Thursday, causing a bomb scare and delays for passengers at West Palm Beach Airport in Florida.

The steamer trunk was one of two pieces of luggage passenger Eric Valleca, a 28-year-old Florida resident, checked on a United flight from West Palm Beach to Chicago, airport officials said.

Officials said the trunk set off the alarm, and X-rays showed several suspicious items, including radios, distributor caps attached to wires, batteries, PVC pipe painted black, stereo speakers and an alarm clock.

Officials initially considered blowing the trunk up, but sent in a robot to take a closer look first.

A Mechanical Farting Dog.

Happy Halloween everyone!

M E-L posted this on October 31, 2003
It is filed under Odds & Ends, Screen

It is also indexed with the following tags: Security | Halloween | Ghostbusters | Alias |