Florida Sheriff Urges People Not To Shoot At Hurricane Irma
A sheriff in Florida has asked the citizens of his county not to shoot at Hurricane Irma, saying that it will not help to turn it around. The sheriff’s office was responding to a Facebook event called “Shoot At Hurricane Irma,” where over 25,000 people said that they would be participating by shooting at Hurrican Irma on Sunday, September 10. Over 53,000 people claim to be interested.
Hurricane Irma is the most powerful Atlantic hurricane to have ever been recorded anywhere outside the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. The Facebook event “Shoot At Hurricane Irma” was created by 22-year-old Ryan Edwards, who told the media that he had created the event out of pure boredom and stress, according to the Independent. Edwards claims that he is just as surprised by the reaction the event has received.
The description of the Event reads as follows:
“YO SO THIS GOOFY????????LOOKING WINDY HEADASS NAMED IRMA SAID THEY PULLING UP ON US????????????, LETS SHOW IRMA THAT WE SHOOT FIRST????????????”
Although it is clear that the event is clearly a joke, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office has nevertheless issued a warning to the people, telling them not to shoot at the hurricane. The Sheriff’s Office tweeted the following message on Saturday evening:
To clarify, DO NOT shoot weapons @ #Irma. You won't make it turn around & it will have very dangerous side effectshttps://t.co/CV4Y9OJknv
— Pasco Sheriff (@PascoSheriff) September 10, 2017
Ryan Edwards, who created the event says that he was totally surprised by the response.
“The response is a complete and total surprise to me. I never envisioned this event becoming some kind of crazy idea larger than myself. It has become something a little out of my control.”
Another organizer of the event, Ryon Edwards, says that he finds the warning by the Sheriff’s Office to be hilarious. Edwards says that he had never thought that the humor behind the group would be taken seriously by anybody, leave alone the Sheriff’s department. In his latest Facebook post in the event page, Ryon writes:
“Well guys, it’s here. The moment we’ve been waiting for. It was cool to see the response this got from Facebook. On another note, I’ve learned that about 50% of the world could not understand sarcasm to save their lives. Carry on.”
But it turns out the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office has a good enough reason for having issued the warning. Sheriff Chris Nocco spoke about it.
“Over 99% of the people out there have common sense and are listening, but we in law enforcement deal with the 1%, so we are trying to get the message to them.”
“Shoot At Hurricane Irma” isn’t the only humorous Facebook event that has gained popularity as Hurricane Irma hits the Florida coast. While it’s always refreshing to see people treat dire situations with humor, the themes of some of these events are downright ridiculous.
Hurricane Irma gained Category 5 status as it stormed through the Caribbean. It caused massive damages to the islands, and as many as 24 people have lost their lives. Over 6 million people in Florida have been asked to evacuate the State. As of 11 AM EDT, the storm has also hit the state. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Florida.
[Featured image by NOAA]
