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Subscribe to RSSAn Arizona man was arrested after posting a video showing a 16-year old boy walking the streets of Phoenix with a fake rocket-propelled grenade launcher. The man said the incident was staged to test police response time following the deadly theater shooting in Colorado. TODAY's Natalie Morales reports.
PHOENIX -- Police have arrested an Arizona man who allegedly filmed his 16-year-old nephew walking city streets dressed in a sheet and carrying a fake grenade launcher, authorities said on Wednesday.
Michael David Turley, 39, was arrested Monday over the making of the video, in which an unidentified narrator says he aims to discover how quickly police in Phoenix would respond following the fatal shooting of 12 people at the screening of the “Dark Knight Rises” Batman movie in Aurora, Colorado, in July.
The bizarre, amateurish video depicts a person with a fairly realistic but fake grenade launcher walking around a Phoenix intersection in what appears to be a blue sheet with dark material covering his head and face.
Made eight days after the shooting at a screening of a Batman movie, the film was posted on YouTube and titled, "Dark Knight Shooting Response, Rocket Launcher Police Test."
"Given this event, I wanted to run a little test here in Phoenix, Arizona," the narrator says in the film. "I want to find out how safe I really am, and I want to know the response time of the Phoenix police department."
The filmmaker claims it took 15 minutes for police to respond.
The first officer finds the filmmaker and the teen standing in a driveway. The officer calmly tells the boy to put down the weapon and the man to put down the camera. He didn't draw his gun.
Officer James Holmes, a police spokesman, said Turley told the officer they were just filming a movie, and the officer took down their names and left.
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After interviewing people who called 911 and later seeing the video posted on YouTube, police arrested Turley.
"It surprised us that he actually put that video on YouTube," Holmes said.
Not 'fun and games'
Holmes said the police response took just over three minutes from the first call, and a helicopter and SWAT team was dispatched as backup.
The Anonymous Filmmaker explores how the Phoenix Police Department reacts days after the event at the Century 16 Movie Theater in Aurora, Colorado where a gunman, James Holmes, killed 12 people and injured 58 more at the premiere of Batman The Dark Knight Rises. In our Hollywood style video, a man resembling a terrorist paces around a busy street in Phoenix Arizona carrying a rocket launcher until the police apprehend him. This film explores the response time and reaction of law enforcement within the Phoenix rural community. You will be shocked to see what happens.
Turley was charged with knowingly giving a false impression of a terrorist act, endangerment, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and misconduct involving a simulated explosive.
He is being held in county jail on a $5,000 bond. If convicted, he faces up to 45 months in prison, said Maricopa County Attorney's Office spokesman Jerry Cobb.
"We take something like this seriously," Phoenix police spokesman Officer James Holmes said. "It wasn't fun and games to all the people who were affected by this. We don't behave like this in this country to prove a point."
Read more U.S. stories from NBC News
The 16-year-old has not been arrested, Holmes said.
"The video told us what Turley was intentionally trying to do -- creating a terrorist hoax for his own personal ideals," he said.
Turley doesn't have a listed phone number. He didn't immediately respond to messages sent Wednesday through the YouTube account.
An attorney for Turley could not be immediately reached for comment.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
He doesn't deserve jail time...if he was dressed in an alien suit, then everyone would just laugh it off...the gun was not real...he harmed no one...why is he even in jail...?..Because people panic and are irrational....it was a stunt...that's all...don't the police have anything else to do?....really?
This is one foolish idiot, dressing his teenage relative like a raghead and having him carry a weapon around in public pointed at traffic.......If I saw this aimed in my direction they would be planing his funeral today instead of bail and attorney fee. What an idiot.
It appears that the charges stem from the YouTube posting not the actual incident. Therefore, I think with a good lawyer this man will not face jail time but will probably need to pay a fine and do community service.
This was an attempt to get media atrtention and it is a wonder that someone did not shoot him down. Persoanally, I think he needs to be charged with every crime in the books up to littering and sent to jail for a long time.
Lazarus
someone runs that test by my house this guy would have probably been shot by multiple neighbors.
I have to agree with all of the people who said they would have shot him. If this happened on my street, I would have shot him after telling him to put the weapon down. No hesitation. Then what would have happened to me?
I understand that we all want to know that our police would be "johnny-on-the-spot" if something like this happens, but what happens when the police fail to respond quickly and a citizen takes steps to defend his/her neighborhood from a fanatic?
"Film of Arizona teen dressed in sheet with fake grenade launcher leads to arrest"
Ya think?!
Hogwash! Once the cops found out they'd been made fools of they brought out all the heavy metal in a ploy to imply this non-event was a big deal. Usually Arizona cops have sense but in this case they show either this sense has gone or worse they were bought and sold. It was a zero deal. It was nothing! Ron Kuby, where are you when we need you?
took long enough!
Stupid is as stupid does. Makes me wonder if I'm the only sane person in Arizona. Hmmm, makes me wonder about me! Sigh
Well, if you live in Maricopa County and you vote for Joe Arpaio in November, then you'll know for sure.
Now here's a poster child for "idiot"
my response time....
i would have flattend that boy like a squirrel, without a thought had i seen him with a RL dressed as he was, not just kept driving.
the 2 people that took this as a "first response flick" should have been arrested, and i give the officer credit in not putting one between the kids eyes. the "uncle" in this case... tard-o.
No need to scare citizens, who are not actors. Someone could have easily had cardiac arrest, or something. Glad the authorities are taking care of this! Total lack or regard for others...
Obviously the filmaker didnt know about the open carry law either, Its legal to walk around Arizona showing a weapon on your person, yeah it was a "grenade launcher", point is the people of Arizona are probably somewhat desensitized to seeing weapons, his actions werent all that alarming either, he looked more like an idiot than a "terrorist".
"knowingly giving a false impression of a terrorist act" I think people miss the point. Who has time to come up with this bs law and actually get it passed. I'm actually dare I say impressed with the cop. He used his critical thinking skills something that our law enforcement seems to have lost.
That's because it was a Phoenix police officer, not one of Joe Arpaio's deputies.
Reasonable enough looking rpg7, the head covered in a black mask is reasonable. However the sheet should be wrapped around the head not the body.
And if you were driving by in a car and the kid aimed the fake rpg at you and you popped him. No you would not be charged with anything. People have pulled fake plastic guns to pull off a robbery and been shot by the cops. No harm no foul.
the uncle is seriously lucky a swat team did not take his nephew out at 200 meters or a cop shot him with a pistol. The backblast can kill within about 40 feet not to mention the warhead. Have actually seen an rpg7 and this one looks similar but there are some differances, however there are so many variants unless i got a close look i probably could not tell the differance. they both have a serious case of stupid. this coulda really gone south quick.
people should be discussing why the word HOAX is in quotes instead of the word FILMMAKER.
if you have a camera and can make the record button operate somehow does not mean you are a
filmmaker.