Posted on 08/15/2008 10:34:28 AM PDT by Dr. Zzyzx
August 14th, 2008 @ 11:24pm By Sarah Dallof
There were some tense moments inside a local sporting goods store when three boys playing around climbed inside a gun vault and their friend shut the door.
The vault had a fail-safe, a common combination that should open every lock in the store, but it didn't work.
Firefighters say the safe was 4 feet high, 4 feet wide and 2 feet deep, good for holding up to 45 guns, but not so good for three children. Fourteen-year-old Myan was all smiles as he left Dick's Sporting Goods, but earlier this evening he and two friends were in the tight spot, running out of oxygen.
"We went into the safe and we kinda closed the door, and it locked," Myan said.
His friends ran over to the clerks and told them they'd locked their friends in the safe. Store employees tried the safe's combination, one that was designed to open any vault in the store. It didn't work, so they called 911. Firefighters drilled holes in the safe while they decided how to proceed.
Scott Freitag, with the Salt Lake City Fire Department, said, "They took the pressurized air they use on their air packs and attached that and put that on the side of the safe so air was going through."
Myan says his mind was full of thoughts like, "What were you thinking? Are we gonna die? Stuff like that."
Firefighters weren't sure how thick the vault's steel was, so they were hesitant to use a saw. "They ended up using pneumatic air tools and actually cut the back of the safe off," Freitag said.
Tonight, Myan says he's grateful to those who rescued him and his friends, and he has this advice for anyone who thinks about climbing in a gun vault: "Don't do it. It's a bad idea, really bad."
Calls to Dick's Sporting Goods' corporate offices were not returned. No one locally would comment on why the combination didn't work.
Investigators will determine whether the children will get into any trouble.
We need background checks for safes.
‘cuz they’re not safe.
Who’s gonna pay for the safe?............
Why didn’t the safe have a saftey lock!?!?!? /s
I can understand a kid 6 or 7 doing something like this, but 14?
“Store employees tried the safe’s combination, one that was designed to open any vault in the store. It didn’t work, so they called 911.”
I don’t think they entered the combination correctly. They probably got excited and just entered the numbers in without also including the correct number of turns needed between each number. That is assuming it was a combination lock. Might have been digital. I’m surprised no one bothered to call a locksmith.
Wow, those guys are really sharp.
The parents will probably sue the store and the manufacturer for pain and suffering, maintaining that the safe was an attractive nussance much like a backyard pool without a fence. (only half sarcasm)
I'd say it held them pretty darn good, no?.............
Will the store send a bill to the kids’ parents for the cost of the safe that was destroyed? A gun-safe like that isn’t cheap; and the store has to scrap this one now because of the stupid irresponsible behavior of these kids.
Natural selection took a swipe at these three and missed.
I imagine they would still be in there if no one had bothered to get them out.
However, the sentence in question was poorly written as I do not expect that a firefighter actually said that or if he did say such a thing, he was joking. Thus the reporter should have indicated it was a joke by the firefighter.
It's discouraging just how fast a person with the correct tools can get into the typical safe. They're really only good for keeping out amateurs.
Bet these kids think twice before putting a bug in a box with a couple holes poked in it.
“Who’s gonna pay for the safe?............”
You break it . . .
What do you expect from a journalism major? Good grammar?...........
What about freezers and refridgerators? Should they be required to have airholes built in too?
I am pretty sure Defiant forgot to put the *Sarcasm* tag on.
I remember growing up in the '70's we were constantly warned about kid killers such as old refrigerators and blasting caps.
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