Thursday saw a spate of bomb threats spread across the United States and Canada in an apparent bid to extort Bitcoins, a form of unregulated electronic currency. Many businesses were targeted, along with a number of schools and colleges. Buildings across the states had to be evacuated as authorities had to scan every single building that had received a threat, and keep those in neighboring buildings safe.
One of the buildings that had to be evacuated was a high-rise apartment building in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Charlotte Hornets player Frank Kaminsky lives. As reported by ESPN , the evacuation resulted in the elevators in the building being shut down as well, and the NBA player was left having to walk down 49 flights of stairs from his apartment.
He had been kicking back with his video games and some snacks when the fire alarm in the building went off, and while he says this is a regular occurrence and that he usually ignores it, on this occasion everyone was asked to evacuate.
“I had to walk down 49 stories because they shut off the elevators. Instead of grabbing my keys and my wallet, I grabbed a box of Cheez-Its for the long journey down,” Kaminsky recalled after shoot-around Friday morning, according to the Charlotte Observer .
Frank Kaminsky is a good samaritan ? https://t.co/LrBxdtuNls
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) December 15, 2018
Three stories down, he ran into a neighbor he has met on occasion who appeared to have her hands very full. The woman was carrying her baby, a dog, and a number of other items as well, and Kaminsky quickly offered to help her. For the rest of the 46 floors down to the ground, the basketballer carried her baby to ease her burden as they walked down together.
While many have hailed him a hero for his actions, the athlete has a very different view of his kind deed. “I’m just a good samaritan, not a hero,” Kaminsky told the publication with a chuckle.
Following the evacuation, Kaminsky and his neighbors were all stranded at ground level for a while as they waited for the building to be cleared. When they were finally allowed back into the building, Kaminsky waited for the elevators to be back up and functioning again before he returned. “I’m not walking back up 49 floors,” Kaminsky said. “That’s just not a thing that’s going to happen.”
It’s unclear how Kaminsky got back into his apartment given that he had left his keys behind during the evacuation.
