Jim Carrey getting stuck with several blow darts in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls is one thing; two pedestrians being attacked with them on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is another. That’s because one’s a piece of fiction meant for comedic effect, whereas the other actually happened to a man and woman walking across the Full House–famous red suspension bridge on Friday.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, a bicycle cop with the California Highway Patrol noticed a man in pain around 2:45 p.m. local time. Said man flagged down the officer and pointed to what appeared to be a 5-inch-long metal dart protruding from his thigh. At least 2 inches of the weapon had penetrated the victim’s skin. Authorities later told the press that the dart “appeared to have been fired from a blow gun.”
The Los Angeles Times reports that the victim was able to remove the dart himself, but the CHP officer had him and a woman who’d been hit in the kneecap wait for medical personnel as a precaution. According to CHP spokesperson Andrew Barclay:
“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.”
Both attacks happened at around the same time and location on the bridge, as the victims “had been walking southbound on the east sidewalk of the bridge toward Vista Point, a scenic lookout.” CHP surmised that perhaps the assailant or assailants had shot the darts at passersby from a moving vehicle.
(Via San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times)