Tourists Shot With Blow Darts On Golden Gate Bridge


The Golden Gate bridge has had its fair share of weird incidents, but tourists being shot with blow darts might be a first. Police are now working to figure out the details surrounding the odd incident.

According to NBC News, at 2:45 p.m., a man approached a CHP bicycle officer in Golden Gate Bridge Vista Point parking lot and said that he had been shot in the thigh with a blow dart that pierced through his jeans. While the officer was taking down information, a second victim approached and said she was hit right in the knee cap with a similar dart.

Both of the victims were walking north on the east sidewalk of the Golden Gate bridge towards Vista Point in Sausalito when they were hit.

The CHP officer described the blow dart as about five-inches long with a long, metal sharpened point.

The CHP released a statement adding, “The tail of the dart is topped with a white plastic cap, which allows the dart to be fired from a blow gun.”

One critical detail that is still missing is if the dart was coated with a poison or chemical. According to the Los Angeles Times, an ambulance was called as a precaution. Paramedics came and checked out the two people but released them.

Still, the blow darts are going through testing to see if they were coated with toxic substances.

Authorities are also investigating if this crime was a drive-by blow darting. CHP currently believes the weapon was fired from a vehicle because of the locations of the victims’ wounds.

CHP spokesman Andrew Barclay told the Los Angeles Times that the crime appeared to be unmotivated.

“I’ve never heard of something like this. It seems very random, and it doesn’t appear that either of the victims was targeted for any reason specifically… Neither of them had had any arguments.”

The officers are trying to find if there is any video footage of what exactly happened as well.

The spokesman added, “it was definitely one of those situations where you… wonder why would somebody do this.”

“It is really just reckless, careless, there’s no purpose to fire those darts… without the intention of harming somebody.”

The Golden Gate Bridge is an iconic tourist attraction for San Francisco with over 10 million annual visitors. Why the criminals would choose such a populated area is also a mystery.

Vista Point in particular is one of the most popular locations in San Francisco. ABC7 talked to some of the tourists there about what they thought of the crime.

Bobby Rai of Newark was shown a picture of the dart before saying, “it is scary; then again you can’t hide, like I said. You just go to look out for yourself.”

His cousin Indy Rai was also concerned.

“That’s very crazy. You know, these days you don’t know what’s going to happen especially in SF.”

The Golden Gate Bridge has a reputation for unusual crimes, but the majority of the headline-making incidents are suicide. The Golden Gate is the second-most used suicide locations in the world (number one is the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge).

The Golden Gate Bridge is a popular tourist attraction and suicide spot, making it a highly policed bridge. [Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]
The Golden Gate Bridge is a popular tourist attraction and suicide spot, making it a highly policed bridge. [Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]
As previously reported by the Inquisitr, the bridge was actually closed for a time to create suicide-prevention safety upgrades.

That full story can be found here.

Anyone who knows about the blow dart shooting on the Golden Gate Bridge is asked to call CHP’s Marin area office at 415-924-1100.

[Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]

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