this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2024
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According to police, Charles Smith, 27, entered the Walmart at 1955 S. Stapley Dr. on Dec. 19 intending to film pranks for social media platforms.

Instead, police said Smith grabbed a can of Hot Shot Ultra Bed Bug and Flea Killer from a shelf without paying for it and then sprayed the pesticide on various vegetables, fruit and rotisserie chickens that were available for purchase.

Smith recorded his face, the pesticide can and the act of him spraying its contents. He later posted the recording online.

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[–] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 264 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Yeah, that's not a prank. That could have killed people if nobody noticed it.

I hope they lock his dumb ass up for a long time.

[–] kameecoding@lemmy.world 92 points 7 months ago (3 children)

From the last wave of pranks when people licked ice creams and put it back I have learned that messing with food is a federal crime in the US and is taken quite seriously.

[–] stoly@lemmy.world 19 points 7 months ago (2 children)

That’s because it’s an easy way to cause the death of children. People become angry, understandably.

[–] scutiger@lemmy.world 15 points 7 months ago

It could also cause the death of a CEO, which is an even more serious concern.

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[–] Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Uh oh, but will that department get the ax after inauguration? Might be time to do delivery only groceries. Where I live they come from special stores with no general public access.

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[–] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 143 points 7 months ago (9 children)

Now, this could qualify as terrorism.

Not a single murder of a psychopathic indirect mass murderer CEO.

[–] zbyte64@awful.systems 63 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Doubt many CEOs shop at Walmart, otherwise it would totally be terrorism charges.

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 15 points 7 months ago (1 children)

you'd be surprised. A fairly large number of them are quite miserly, even in their personal lives.

[–] thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org 6 points 7 months ago

The CEO types have people who are responsible for filing the fridge and pantry. Those people probably shop at Walmart just like everyone else.

[–] Iheartcheese@lemmy.world 17 points 7 months ago (2 children)

What do you believe his political motive was in spraying the produce?

[–] chickenf622@sh.itjust.works 14 points 7 months ago

Whatever you think it is to fit your personal narrative /s

[–] theUwUhugger@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (6 children)

What was the political motive behind Luigi YAHOOO-ing the ceo?

I would recommend you reading his manifesto as long as you can, its not long but its being taken down from pretty much everwhere

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[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago (5 children)

I mean, I get your point......but not every story has to be compared to other stories. In this case Luigi. I also see other people bring up politics during stories that have nothing to do with politics.

And I wonder why people do that. Why talk about an unrelated topic when there's already an interesting topic?

I guess it's not as bad as reddit, where they would instead just post a random unrelated quote from the office, but still....

[–] Ookami38@sh.itjust.works 13 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It's quite simply what's on people's minds right now. It was a major event, it outlines some of the systemic inequalities, and people are interested in the subject.

[–] MajorHavoc@programming.dev 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Yeah.

It's also just fun to talk about because it probably makes US healthcare CEOs nervous.

After all they've done to the rest of us, it's nice to think of them feeling nervous. If they're not going to feel our grief, or appropriate remorse, or empathy, at least they can feel nervous.

[–] thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 7 months ago

There's a good book about capitalism and what happens when the CEO class gets nervous about the underclass getting tired of their shit. It's called The Iron Heel by Jack London. It's what inspired 1984 and is the start of the dystopian future sci-fi writing.

The basic premise is it never ends like the French Revolution when the workers revolt because the regular person has too much invested in the status quo.

[–] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It's a current event being compared to another current event. One about a murder, and the other potentially attempted homicide, depending on the pesticide used. Seems to be pretty related to me, regardless of any politics.

Just because they call it a "prank", and the media uses the same shitty term, that doesn't make spraying pesticides on food for unsuspecting citizens to grab any less dangerous.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

One has a potential villain above the law and a moral purpose in removing him, or is at least a sympathetic figure striking out at one of the many causes of our misery, and who we can applaud. There is a root cause in desperate need of fixing but corporate voices in search of profit who are somehow more important than people’s lives

The other is threatening people’s lives and health by contaminating food, and dismissing as a “prank” for clicks. He needs plenty of time in jail and to forfeit whatever cash those clicks might bring. There is no morality play, no political difference, only exploiting the worst of humanity for cash

[–] Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 3 points 7 months ago

It reminds me of the dupes on Facebook that comment "must have been a Kamala voter" on every video of someone doing something stupid.

[–] AmidFuror@fedia.io 2 points 7 months ago

Corporate needs you to find the difference between this story and this story.

(They're the same story)

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[–] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 108 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (3 children)

I do not agree with the use of "prankster".

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 47 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Yeah this is a mass poisoning.

[–] sik0fewl@lemmy.ca 12 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Dude, it's just a prank, bro!

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)
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[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 66 points 7 months ago
[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 64 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The chief pilot at the flight school I worked for used to say "Let's go commit a few counts of aviation."

[–] Chozo@fedia.io 50 points 7 months ago (1 children)

He only got ~300 likes on his posts, too. Dude's picking up a felony charge for 300 likes.

[–] pastermil@sh.itjust.works 31 points 7 months ago

Good, let him rot in irrelevance, and prison.

[–] Passerby6497@lemmy.world 35 points 7 months ago

Smith recorded his face, the pesticide can and the act of him spraying its contents. He later posted the recording online.

"Arrest me Daddy uwu"

[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 22 points 7 months ago (1 children)

...are you retarded?

It's a rhetorical question.

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[–] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 16 points 7 months ago (4 children)

It's remarkable that it needs to be said but... Don't record yourself doing crimes and post it on YouTube.

[–] PraiseTheSoup@lemm.ee 10 points 7 months ago

Unless you do universally hated shit like this dickhole, then by all means, tell us exactly who you are and what you did.

[–] viking 5 points 7 months ago

It's just a prank, bro!

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[–] thefartographer@lemm.ee 7 points 7 months ago

I don't know what community I thought I was in, but I thought this was gonna be some joke story about Jar Jar Binks running a police force. Those cops need to fix the spacing for "Mesa"

[–] Trainguyrom@reddthat.com 6 points 7 months ago

I misread the police car on the thumbnail as "Meesa police" and thought it was going to be a jarjar binks meme before I read the title

[–] desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 7 months ago

wait until you find out how much DDT we sprayed everywhere.

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