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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMan killed by booby trap rigged in his own home on Thanksgiving, police say
A man was shot to death on Thanksgiving night by a booby trap device he had apparently rigged in his home, officials say.
The deceased, identified by police as 65-year-old Ronald Cyr of Van Buren, Maine, called 911 after he was shot by his self-made home security device and was taken to a hospital, Van Buren Police said in a Friday news release.
Regretfully, Mr. Cyr succumbed to the injuries sustained from the gunshot, Van Buren Police said.
<snip>
Investigators at the scene later saw the booby trap themselves when they discovered Cyrs front door was rigged with a device designed to fire a handgun should anyone attempt to enter the door, according to the statement. Police reportedly found other unknown devices in Cyrs home that prompted police to call the Maine State Police Bomb Squad.
Van Buren, a predominantly rural town in northern Maine 320 miles from Portland, sits along the St. John River directly across the U.S.-Canada border and includes a land-based port of entry.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/12/01/ronald-cyr-booby-trap-death/
Cartoonist
(7,298 posts)Better that idiot than a first responder.
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,790 posts)Takket
(21,425 posts)Hassin Bin Sober
(26,273 posts)stopdiggin
(11,095 posts)THIS guy ...
- -
LisaL
(44,962 posts)Considering he rigged the trap to shoot anyone to come through the door, I am assuming he didn't expect any invited guests.
CatWoman
(79,283 posts)made me laugh too
3Hotdogs
(12,210 posts)It always works for Wylie.
SWBTATTReg
(21,859 posts)malfunction, one misstep and BOOM. No time for regrets, no time for anything. The shame about this whole thing is that he was so afraid of being broken into, because of robbery and heaven forbid, being harmed, for material processions that for the most part, can be replaced and/or covered by insurance. Now it is all gone, and moot.
Shaking my head. How sad.
Demovictory9
(32,324 posts)police coming to do a check,
SWBTATTReg
(21,859 posts)imagine what would happen in case of a fire (or like you say, UPS, relatives, police, etc.)...what a mess and danger.
I always wondered what goes through someone's mind when they do stuff/set up stuff (traps etc.) like this? Are they that paranoid of society as a whole to do this or did they get severely beaten up, or what? I have heard of stuff in the past being done (like this, setting traps etc.), but good grief.
appleannie1
(5,044 posts)LisaL
(44,962 posts)Apparently he had a number of such traps in his home. Good thing no one else was shot.
HAB911
(8,812 posts)RainCaster
(10,691 posts)Codeine
(25,586 posts)It did remove a long-term financial burden on the taxpayers, however.
dchill
(38,324 posts)(Proof of being a fool.)
Happy Hoosier
(7,083 posts)... that if you live in unwarranted fear of being a victim of violence, you are reasonably likely to bring it on yourself in some way.
UniteFightBack
(8,231 posts)Sorry.....too soon?
Flaleftist
(3,473 posts)Better him than the fire department or police if they had to respond to an emergency.
Vinca
(50,172 posts)appleannie1
(5,044 posts)not fooled
(5,791 posts)paranoid and afraid, just the way murdoch likes 'em.
MineralMan
(146,192 posts)A bright guy he wasn't.
moreland01
(735 posts)is a killer.
Richard D
(8,693 posts)Initech
(99,915 posts)PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,752 posts)he apparently went outside, then came back in through the door that he'd booby-trapped. How could he possibly forget that?
LisaL
(44,962 posts)Reportedly he had these devices throughout his home. He could have been shot by the internal device.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,752 posts)given the Washington Post is behind a pay wall, only mentions the one at the front door.
LudwigPastorius
(8,944 posts)there except drink.
LudwigPastorius
(8,944 posts)paleotn
(17,781 posts)Wile E. Coyote style.
My condolences to the family. They'd probably agree their relative was an idiot.
3Hotdogs
(12,210 posts)Friend and his wife bought a small piece of land about 50 miles north of Bangor. It was near where the towns have township numbers instead of names. They were living in a tent while they were building a small A-frame.
One day some asshole shows up and pulls a shotgun on Greg and has Nancy tie him to a tree. Whereupon the asshole shoots Greg. Not fatally.
Then he drives into town and tells the local authorities, "I took care of those hippies for us.
Yes, he was convicted.
DENVERPOPS
(8,679 posts)and immediately started campaigning and voting for Susan Collins..........
This gives us a glimmer of what we are up against today.
CTyankee
(63,773 posts)tonedevil
(3,022 posts)than he is getting credit for. He set a booby trap and he caught a booby.
DENVERPOPS
(8,679 posts)Maybe he feared all the mass "invasion" of the U.S. by illegal Canadian immigrants sneaking into his country.
Booby traps are illegal in homes or businesses........the reason being, that if the jerks home had caught fire and the firefighters took down the door to gain entry his booby trap would have killed one of them.......Same with Police investigating a burglar, or paramedics answering his call for medical help......
Get a dog, alarm company stickers, camera's or whatever. Interviewing burglars in jail, they all said the same thing. If there are cameras, alarm stickers, or especially a dog we don't need the potential hassle and we go to another place that doesn't have any of those things......
ToxMarz
(2,154 posts)bluescribbler
(2,105 posts)Unfortunately, it's probably too late to prevent his genes from migrating into the gene pool.
sakabatou
(42,083 posts)DENVERPOPS
(8,679 posts)Definitely a candidate for a "Darwin Award".........
lunasun
(21,646 posts)the shooting
oldsoftie
(12,410 posts)Everyone should know by now that you cant do that shit; even if its your property. Its illegal. YOU have to shoot the intruder; you cant rig the house to do it
Mr. Ected
(9,670 posts)After a series of break-ins into his home.
Sure enough, a trespasser attempted entry into the home and his leg was blown off.
Trespasser sued farmer. Farmer lost. Farmer lost his farm to the trespasser.
Welcome to America, where stupid people do stupid things and miracles happen.
bucolic_frolic
(42,681 posts)Oh well. Next!
LiberalLovinLug
(14,154 posts)Same kind of idiot. Here's the sign he had posted on his property. Notice the comment on illegal aliens.
KY_EnviroGuy
(14,483 posts)which is in Cleveland County, best I can tell. I think this is the story shown on that banner form October, 2018:
https://www.shelbystar.com/zz/news/20181016/north-carolina-man-shot-in-arm-after-triggering-his-own-booby-trap
The story in the OP is from Maine, near a town right on the Canadian border.
KY.....
LastLiberal in PalmSprings
(12,539 posts)The owner of a remote cabin, tired of break-ins, rigged a similar device using a shotgun. The criminal survived and brought a civil action against the owner and won, because the owner was not protecting himself, and the device was clearly meant to kill anyone who opened the door.
In this current case, Cyr lived long enough to realize he had made a mistake, and that things don't always work as planned.
And he became another entry in the annual Darwin Awards contest.
Remember kids, guns don't kill people, people who do stupid things kill people, often themselves.
KY_EnviroGuy
(14,483 posts)Ran across this on YouTube by accident a few months back......
The Case of The Shotgun Booby Trap
See:
Summary from Wikipedia:
KY...........
KY_EnviroGuy
(14,483 posts)Ronald Cyr, 65, died from device designed to fire a handgun should anyone attempt to enter the door, police say
See: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/01/maine-man-booby-trap-home-dies
(snips)
Mark and Lorraine, who identified themselves as two of Ronalds siblings, said Ronald had long complained that items such as tools and car painting supplies had gone missing. They alleged that Ronald Cyr complained to authorities, but police treated him like he was senile, Mark claimed. The police department could not be reached for additional comment.
He was afraid, Mark said. The cops wouldnt do nothing so he took matters [into his own hands. The pair said Ronald had tried using fences and security cameras to protect his home, but he eventually turned to traps a few years ago. We were not in favor of him doing that because he wasnt used to guns really, that was not his forte but he was so frustrated, Lorraine said.
Another family ruined, all due to a desperate reaction to petty theft by heartless assholes.
KY...........
3catwoman3
(23,820 posts)...and sort-of friend kept a gun in every room of his house - even the bathrooms.
He dies about a year ago. We saw his wife in October, and she told of donating his guns to her son-in-law and grandson. As the garage was being cleared out, it turned out he had 11,000 rounds of ammunition! I find that horrifying.
After learning about all the guns, my husband had commented, If I werent already his friend, I wouldnt be his friend now.