Comic-Con is usually a pleasant place filled with cosplayers, fun panels about everything from comic books to films and the occasional celebrity thrown in among booths filled with all kinds of groovy merchandise.
But for two people who attended the event, Comic-con turned into a crime scene. According to reports, two people got into an altercation over respecting each others' "personal space" at a Resident Evil: Afterlife presentation.
The fight started when one man argued with another man over being too close to him. Then one man snapped and attacked the other with a pen, cutting him on the eyelid. Not exactly the norm at Comic-con. Here's what the police had to say about the whole affair:
"Two males in their mid 20s attending Comic-Con in room H at the San Diego Convention Center got into a verbal argument. The room was very crowded and the males argued over one male sitting too close to the other. The males got into a physical altercation and one male struck the other male near the eye with a pen. The male that was struck was taken to a local hospital with a minor cut on or near his eyelid. The suspect was arrested and booked for assault with a deadly weapon. Central Division is handling the investigation."
Naturally Twitter and Facebook were ablaze with all kinds of comments following the incident - from horror to humor. Even Robert Downey Jr., attending a Marvel panel on The Avengers film delayed by the incident, got in on the joke, telling the crowd not to "stab anybody, anywhere, until I’m done talking."
The crowd was kind enough to oblige him..
Comic-Con marketing and public relations director David Glanzer told Comic Book Resources that the incident was sad and something event organizer prefer never happens:
"Sadly, an incident like this is something you never want to happen,” Comic-Con’s marketing and public relations director David Glanzer told Comic Book Resources. “Right now, we’re deferring to the San Diego Police Department who was on site very quickly. My understanding is that they apprehended the suspect and completed their investigation in probably less than an hour. The programs were delayed for about 40 minutes, but everything is back up and running."
Source: Wired by way of Gus Mastrapa
Comments
Re: Comic-Con Argument Leads to Assault
If the pen is mightier than the sword, then the pen is definitely a deadly weapon. What I want to know is from which exhibit came this particular pen.
Re: Comic-Con Argument Leads to Assault
Any implement that can be used to harm another person is considered a deadly weapon when used as such, whether you are choking someone with a scarf or bashing someone with an ashtray.
A pen can cause serious damage if used on soft tissue or other vulnerable areas of the body. A strong poke in the neck will make breathing difficult for a while, providing that you escaped suffering direct damage to the trachea. A strong poke in the abdomen or midsection will incapacitate you for a few seconds.
That's part of the reason why I make a practice of carrying a pen in my pocket, not to mention that it's always convinient in case you need to write something.
Re: Comic-Con Argument Leads to Assault
Proves that anything, ANYTHING can become dangerous.
Re: Comic-Con Argument Leads to Assault
I'm honestly not sure on whether or not 'with a weapon' has any degrees as far as the law goes, might have to look into that for curiousity (wow that word looks weird, even with US/Eng spelling variations.)
But I can say that a pen can cause severe harm past what a person is normally able to do if you do something stupid, removing/severely damaging an eye, puncturing the skin etc etc. So while it seems 'odd', yes with a deadly weapon is appropriate.
One of my old masters used to tell me to always carry about a pen, since you can take it anywhere and cause some severe damage if you need defend yourself.
Re: Comic-Con Argument Leads to Assault
do the polive consifers that a pem is a deadlu weapin?
Or, when written without making a typing mistake such as "polive": So the police considers that a pen is a deadly weapon?
Just kidding, I sometimes type the letter just besides the correct one myself from time to time. It even got me suspended from WOW a few years ago, long story.