The NYPD's 40th Precinct published a pretty foreboding tweet today highlighting a "WMD" recovered in Bushwick:
40 FIO&@NYPD83Pct pull a WMD out of BK into safer hands! Great work 40 Anti-Crime1 for an arrest&gun #PattersonHouses pic.twitter.com/df7BVe2tGw
— NYPD 40th Precinct (@NYPD40Pct) January 16, 2015
Gee, that weapon sure looks scary! Thanks, NYPD Twitterers!
#83pct TY#40pct your diligence in following up on intel led 2 the recovery of a WMD. TY for making bushwick safe! pic.twitter.com/AkmJPvYNpH
— NYPD 83rd Precinct (@NYPD83Pct) January 16, 2015
But lest you fear that Bushwick residents are preparing for nuclear battle, it turns out the above weapon is simply a used grenade launcher, one rendered inoperable after a single use. "It technically can't hurt anyone," an NYPD spokesperson told us today.
@NYPD83Pct a disposable rocket launcher without the rocket is just a tube that you can buy from Army surplus shops.
— Crypto Cuttlefish (@cuttlefish_btc) January 16, 2015
Well then.
Of course, though this weapon—discovered during a 4 a.m. raid on a residence on Knickerbocker Avenue near Schaefer Street today—is about as dangerous as an unloaded antique rifle, it's still illegal to own, and its owner was arrested.
At least this time no one got sent to war.
