Posted on 11/02/2025 7:45:05 AM PST by V_TWIN
A Florida man faces felony charges after police say he went on a late-night rampage that left nearly $500 worth of pumpkins smashed outside a Target store in the Tampa Bay area.
According to court records obtained by TheSmokingGun.com, 31-year-old Aaron Thompson was caught on surveillance video around 1:15 a.m. on October 21 picking pumpkins from display boxes in front of the store and hurling them to the ground. Police say roughly 80 pumpkins, valued at $472.14, were destroyed.
Authorities arrested Thompson several days later when he returned to the same Target. After being shown the surveillance footage in the store’s loss-prevention office, Thompson allegedly admitted to being the person in the video, telling officers, “That’s me.” Investigators said he appeared unapologetic, reportedly stating that after smashing the pumpkins he “left the scene to go to sleep.”
Thompson was charged with felony criminal mischief and booked into the county jail, where he is being held on a $5,000 bond. His criminal history includes prior convictions for burglary, battery, trespass, criminal mischief, and reckless driving.
(Excerpt) Read more at floridadaily.com ...
An arrest report lists Thompson’s occupation as a violinist who has performed with the Pinellas Park Civic Orchestra as part of its first-violin section. When asked why he destroyed the pumpkins, police said Thompson claimed he acted out of frustration because “someone was messing with him on Facebook.”
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Despite all his rage, he’s still just a rat in a cage.
Lunatic Florida Man ping!
Maybe he’s a fan of ‘Smashing Pumpkins’!.....................
He’s an idiot - but a felony charge for $500 of pumpkin smashing? That’s ridiculous.
He needs a Bullet with butterfly 🦋 wings.
Beat me to it.
Why are so many people complete jerks these days?
You were quick with that line. :-)
20 minutes with D’Arcy would calm his ass down.
If he’s auditioning for the band he’s doing it wrong 😏
Sounds more like a screw loose more than being a jerk.
I’ve known my share of musicians in my life, they have a different way of seeing the world than the rest of us.
Perhaps he thought it was a verb instead of an adjective.................
Smashing Pumpkins was playing at a grocery store?
Cool Hand Aaron. Couldn’t find any parking meters, so he took it out on the pumpkins.
I never cared much for them as a band.....
[Verse 1]
I’m not a rat to be spat on, locked up in this room
Those bars that look towards the sun
At night look towards the moon
Everyday the swallows play in the clouds of love
Make me wish that I had wings, take me high above
[Chorus]
And I looked high, saw the empty sky
If I could only, I could only fly
I’d drift with them in endless space
But no man flies from this place
—Empty Sky, John/Taupin, 1969
“Why are so many people complete jerks these days?’
Pretty simple, they prioritize values over morals.
It is a felony because he had a prior conviction under the same subsection of the law. Otherwise, less than $1,000 damage would have been a misdemeanor.
https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2018/806.13
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