Police: Cantor Office Bullet Had Enough Energy To Break Window Pane, Not Enough To Pierce Blinds?

[BlooInBloo]

Still calling bullshit.

http://richmondvapolice.blogspot.com/2010/03/richmond-police-investigate-cantor.html

The Richmond Police Department is investigating an act of vandalism at the Reagan Building, 25 E. Main St., Richmond, Virginia. A first floor window was struck by a bullet at approximately 1 a.m. on Tuesday, March 23. The building, which has several tenants including an office used by Congressman Eric Cantor, was unoccupied at the time.

A Richmond Police detective was assigned to the case. A preliminary investigation shows that a bullet was fired into the air and struck the window in a downward direction, landing on the floor about a foot from the window. The round struck with enough force to break the windowpane but did not penetrate the window blinds. There was no other damage to the room, which is used occasionally for meetings by the congressman.

Questions:

1) Downward-going bullet hits vertical window? Think of the surface area of the window from that bullet's perspective - most unlucky window EVER.

2) Bullet had enough energy to break window pane, but couldn't get through the blinds? Are the blinds made out of kevlar or something?

3) Not a word on the window being *Cantor's* office window - how many other tenants are in the building?


Still calling bullshit, but now cop-supported. Which isn't surprising, of course.

[gkhouston]

1. Maybe this "bullet" was a bb pellet. n/t

[Connie_Corleone]

2. Maybe Arlen Specter can explain the bullet's path.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

3. Maybe someone threw the bullet?

[Turborama]

8. !

:rofl:

[seabeyond]

9. that one made me laugh. nt

[quispquake]

18. Actually, that's what I think...

Maybe it's a bit tinfoil, but I wouldn't put it past them to throw a bullet, so that they could lie and say it's happening to both sides...

[Warpy]

4. A spent bullet doesn't have a hell of a lot of energy

especially at terminal velocity when it's falling.

It looks like some douche in town fired his gun into the air in drunken celebration of something or other. Such bullets always go to ground somewhere.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

10. I wonder if there were reports of other bullets/shots in the area...

[global1]

12. Did Some Virginian BasketBall Team Win A Big Game That Night?.....nt

[BlooInBloo]

17. Bullets appear to reach about 200 mph falling.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

19. that's not quite lethal. Paintballs go faster than that.

[superduperfarleft]

5. Somebody was shooting randomly into the air in Richmond?

Shocked, I tell ya. Shocked.

[golddigger]

6. Sounds like someone

threw the bullet at the window.

[hedgehog]

7. Here's a question - how many reports of "shots fired" are there in

Richmond during a typical month?

Trafficking and Seizures
The Richmond area is a destination for methamphetamine shipments trafficked in the Mid-Atlantic Region of the United States.
Richmond is an active east coast transshipment location and staging area for drug trafficking organizations trafficking in crack cocaine and heroin.
The Counter-Terrorism & Criminal Interdiction Unit Partnership of the Virginia State Police seized $194,793 worth of narcotics in Richmond during 2005.

http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/statelocal/va/varichmond.pdf

[Midlodemocrat]

13. Exactly. Thank you.

His claim is full of shit, just like him.

[frazzled]

11. That is not his office

He has an office in Richmond and one in Culpeper (as well as his D.C. office), but none on 25 E. Main in Richmond. At least according to his official House web site. I won't publish the address of his real office here, but you can go to his web site to see his official "contact" office addresses and numbers.

So, this is some ... what? An office occasionally used for meetings by the Congressman. I'm not sure what that means (a campaign office?). But it's unlikely an unhappy political opponent would even know about this office to vandalize it.

[LynneSin]

14. And then he carved a backwards "B" into his face

:eyes:

[csziggy]

15. Depends on how straight up it was shot - Mythbusters covered the bases

Bullets fired into the air maintain their lethal capability when they eventually fall back down.

busted / plausible / confirmed

In the case of a bullet fired at a precisely vertical angle (something extremely difficult for a human being to duplicate), the bullet would tumble, lose its spin, and fall at a much slower speed due to terminal velocity and is therefore rendered less than lethal on impact. However, if a bullet is fired upward at a non-vertical angle (a far more probable possibility), it will maintain its spin and will reach a high enough speed to be lethal on impact. Because of this potentiality, firing a gun into the air is illegal in most states, and even in the states that it is legal, it is not recommended by the police. Also the MythBusters were able to identify two people who had been injured by falling bullets, one of them fatally injured. To date, this is the only myth to receive all three ratings at the same time.
http://mythbustersresults.com/episode50

Video of the episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDB838Vi6hw

[thereismore]

16. The reason that bullet hit the building was that the asshole has his offices in the biggest

building in the county. Just a guess.