So, here's a story that has everything: Suspicious materials, a police standoff, fake explosives, and, of course, bureaucratic incompetence.
It all went down Monday morning in the Lake Meadows neighborhood of Chicago, when an HVAC contractor who was working in the apartment building stumbled on what looked like the starter pack for a B-movie villain: Explosives, rifles, chemicals, and enough fake IDs to swing an election. There were even Chicago Police and Fire Department insignias.
The contractor, Melissa Carraway, took a video before calling 911.
"I called immediately to make sure this was handled properly," she said.
Even the news and X thought this was a big story:
Then, Chicago Police, Bomb Squad, SWAT, K-9 units, FBI, and the ATF all showed up, and residents were evacuated. It was chaos … until the police declared the scene "all clear," finding that the rifles and explosives were fake.
And here's where the story gets interesting:
According to reports, the guy who lived in the suspicious apartment was fired from the Chicago Fire Department in 2022 for allegedly threatening a mass shooting at their academy. He even had a standoff with police following the threat. Despite this less-than-ideal background — because remember, this is Chicago we're talking about — he somehow landed another job with a city agency!
So the explosives and the firearms are fake, but I must note that the investigation is ongoing. No charges have been filed yet, and we're pretty sure this man still works for the city.
At this point, and I'm only half joking, he just might be the next Mayor of Chicago.
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