Community | July 15, 2009 | 66 comments

17-year-old blows up a Starbucks because he was inspired by Brad Pitt's 'Fight Club' character

source: http://www.dailymail.com/ap/ApTopStories/200907150444

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AwesomeJosh
A 17-year-old mimicking Brad Pitt's "Fight Club" character, who plans attacks on corporate America, was arrested for masterminding a pre-dawn blast outside a Starbucks Coffee shop on Memorial Day, police said Wednesday.

Kyle Shaw was arrested Tuesday night on charges of arson, criminal possession of a weapon and criminal mischief, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

He was awaiting arraignment Wednesday and it wasn't clear whether he had an attorney. A message left at his home was not immediately returned.

The explosion near the Guggenheim museum on the Upper East Side shattered the store's windows but caused no injuries, and police do not believe it is related to other explosions around the city in the past four years: at the British consulate in May 2005, the Mexican consulate in October 2007 and the Times Square military recruiting station in March 2008.

Kelly said Shaw was trying to emulate the character named Tyler Durden from the 1999 film about a spineless pencil pusher, played by Ed Norton, who takes up with the dangerous yet manly Durden. The two form a secret "fight club," where men beat one another to a pulp in an attempt to feel more alive.

Shaw formed his own fight club in which boys beat one another in various locales around the city including Central Park, Kelly said. At least one member got a broken nose, he said.

The second, more dastardly plot hatched by Pitt's character in the film was called "project mayhem" and included escalating attacks on symbols of corporate America. Durden doesn't succeed in the movie.

Shaw apparently told at least one friend to "watch the news over Memorial Day" because he was about to launch his own version of "project mayhem," Kelly said. Investigators are looking into whether more people might have been involved.

Police say the suspect picked the site because a Starbucks was a target in the movie. It wasn't clear why the specific coffee shop was chosen. There are dozens around the city.

Shaw recently graduated from the City-as-School, an alternative public high school in the West Village neighborhood of Manhattan that was founded in 1972, police said.

The blast occurred around 3:30 a.m. on May 25. A witness reported seeing two people, one blond, running from the scene. The device, made of fireworks powder, a plastic bottle, a metal cap and electrical tape, was set off with a hand-lit fuse.

Investigators recovered homemade bomb materials, a copy of "Fight Club," a box of sparklers and a newspaper clipping about the attack from Shaw's home, Kelly said.

Investigators are still working to identify suspects in the other blasts and believe they were caused by the same person or group of people, Kelly said.

In those bombings, a lone bicyclist was seen in the area before the blasts, caused by either phony grenades or canisters packed with explosive powder. No was hurt in those blasts, either.

In all cases, the explosions were "powerful enough to have caused serious injury or death," Kelly said.

The Starbucks Corp., based in Seattle, is the world's largest gourmet coffee retailer, with more than 15,000 stores, according to a 2008 profile on its Web site. The company has said it didn't believe its store was hit intentionally and didn't immediately return an e-mail message Tuesday...
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66 comments // 17-year-old blows up a Starbucks because he was inspired by Brad Pitt's 'Fight Club' character

  • kitteneater
    • 0
      kitteneater  

    • Too many people bitch and complain about how we need to "simplify life." They never do anything constructive but bitch and moan about the voting system. I'm not saying people need to blow up starbucks. I just think we need to be more hands on when trying to change things.

    • 2 years ago
  • artemis6
    • 0
      artemis6  

    • This kid needed a mentor . There are some things worth blowing up , starbucks , does not seem to qualify to me . He is right at the age where significant mental problems often surface in men . Do you think they will let him in the army ?

    • 2 years ago
  • telcod
    • 0
      telcod  

    • If he had read some and come across another of the author of Fight Club's works, he could have just joined a sex anonymous group and done something more productive like getting hooked up or faked chocking at a restaurant and gotten a free meal. The problem was aiming too low. Credit card companies, now there is a target for the righteous taking care of God's law.

      The first rule of Starbuck's, "If you are dump enough to pay $4.50 for a over-roasted cup of coffee with a shot of soy juice (to quote Lewis Black, there ain't no soy milk, cause there ain't no soy tit", welcome moron."

      The first rule of explosives, "If you want to blow something up, the Army will pay you to do it." You may get shot, but you probably won't get arrested.

      In this kid's fight club, somebody sustained a broken nose. Most abused women get that at home, and there are lot of broken nosed women walking around America, but we still seem overly concerned about the rights of women in Muslim countries. Oh, I digress.

      Good manners, good missiles and good night,

      Capt. B

    • 2 years ago
  • Betico
  • TKerger96
  • theultimateend
  • kennymotown
  • bandman09
    • 0
      bandman09  

    • hey, i love fight club, but anyone whoever does that because he was inspired by Brad Pitt's character in the movie is reading into it a little too much...

    • 2 years ago
  • royulery
    • 0
      royulery  

    • his name is robert paulson. his name is robert paulson. his name is robert paulson . HIS NAME IS ROBERT PAULSON.
      you have no name in project mayhem until you die in it's service.

    • 2 years ago
  • bailey78
  • bailey78
    • 0
      bailey78  

    • see what Not smokeing weed will do too you...If he had been stoned he would not have done such a thing he would have been sitting at home playing video games where the little dumbass belongs. that or he would be working some pissyass little job flipping Mcburgers. but no some redneck asshole had to outlaw weed just to help his friend out with some crap called Nylon and things have been going down hill ever sence

    • 2 years ago
  • captainprophesy
    • 0
      captainprophesy  

    • I call BS... he didn't blow up the Starbucks because of the movie... he blew it up because he obviously has some serious mental issues.
      That's like saying that Rock-N-Roll causes violence... I thought we were done with this debate back in the 80's... good lord who wrote this article Tipper Gore?

    • 2 years ago
  • RyanM4
    • 0
      RyanM4  

    • How depressing, I think it is really sad that people resort to violence to feel more alive, doing something constructive or creative makes me feel alive. The movie Fight Club is really entertaining I suppose because of the engaging characters and whatnot but the film itself comes from corporate America. As much as the movie says a lot about not trying to fit in, look at the main actor, Brad Pitt is a blonde buff superstar. He is what he is acting against. People must realize, films are for entertainment and to convey a message, not to encourage destruction and hate.

    • 2 years ago
  • captainprophesy
  • Sam_the_Wizer
    • 0
      Sam_the_Wizer  
    • RyanM4:

      Films are most certainly for more than entertainment. Movies can make you think, inspire you, break your heart, or save your soul. It may not have been the intention of the director, actors, or writer (all brilliant by the way) to inspire violence, but to inspire such strong thoughts and feelings (misguided though they were) is what great art can do.

    • 2 years ago
  • RyanM4
  • Allorno1
  • Sam_the_Wizer
  • WakeUpPeople
  • jesuswho
    • 0
      jesuswho  

    • A little late buddy. Blaming shit on movies is so ten years ago. Wait so is fight club. If you blame something on somthing that happened ten tears ago is it ok? Wait Im confused.

    • 2 years ago
  • TekkenRaven
  • numinant
    • 0
      numinant  

    • Judging from his actions alone, I don't think he can be classified as anymore unstable than a Starbucks customer. It might even be argued that he's more rational.

    • 2 years ago
  • theultimateend
    • 0
      theultimateend  

    • This is a poorly titled article. He didn't blow up the place BECAUSE of Fight Club, he blew it up because he was mentally unstable. Fight Club was merely the catalyst, it would have been something else if that didn't exist, my money is Lord of the Rings ;).

    • 2 years ago
  • TKerger96
  • vivoconrazon
  • Valence
  • calm_incense
  • pnuttbuttajelli
    • 0
      pnuttbuttajelli  

    • say what you want about corporate america, starbucks has bomb health insurance and all the coffee you want.

      my dentist told me about a starbucks bombing a few weeks ago, but i never heard of one.

      either way, that kid needs to get a grip.

    • 2 years ago
  • soundmn777
    • 0
      soundmn777  

    • To be fair it wasn't Brad Pitt's character that blew up the Starbucks in Fight Club. He didn't even actually exisit.
      Tyler Durden was Ed Norton. WTF. :)

    • 2 years ago
  • KefKef
  • antifence_sitter
    • 0
      antifence_sitter  

    • "Shaw recently graduated from the City-as-School, an alternative public high school in the West Village neighborhood of Manhattan that was founded in 1972, police said."

      Why is that relevant?

    • 2 years ago
  • Incredulous
  • antifence_sitter
  • numinant
  • T_Rex_Behavior
  • RaceBannon
  • Betico
  • disorderdis0rder
  • TKerger96
  • calm_incense
    • 0
      calm_incense  

    • 1. Fight Club is an incredible movie. Art is not to be judged by the stupidity of its fans.

      2. It's Starbucks. I'm not going to miss it, and anyone who will, other than its franchise owner and employees, deserves to be deprived of that which they love anyways.

      3. Besides, I'm sure there's another Starbucks right across the street.

    • 2 years ago
  • Sam_the_Wizer
    • 0
      Sam_the_Wizer  

    • Interesting how the article painted this kid as some sort of psychopathic idiot emulating some barbaric terrorist that wages a failing and misguided war against coffee shops. I don't condone violence, but I can empathize with this kid's plight. It isn't terrorism, it's revolution. Capitalism kills Democracy.

    • 2 years ago
  • hollowman218
    • 0
      hollowman218  

    • I gotta say, at least this guy had the balls to go through with this. I'm sure if it weren't for our senseful humanity a lot of us would want to take it to the man with some explosives.

    • 2 years ago
  • TKerger96
    • 0
      TKerger96  

    • I could have sworn Durden did succeed in the movie. the movie ends with 8 credit card buildings crumbling from internal explosions. The person that wrote this article should have done a little research rather than searching for 'fight club' on IMDB. But what do i know?

    • 2 years ago
  • Bushido
  • BKsaysAction
    • 0
      BKsaysAction  

    • Obviously he didn't watch the movie, they used a globe statue to slam into the coffee shop at night when nobody is there. Not at dawn when people start pulling up. On top of that those guys got caught and killed bitch tit bob. So please don't go blaming one of the best films in decades because some stupid kid wanted to be an anarchist.

    • 2 years ago
  • mattgamma
  • Found_Avenue
    • 0
      Found_Avenue  

    • I had many friends in high school who went to City-As. They were all creative and kooky, but none of them were this "out there." This kid just made the biggest mistake of his life, in a desperate attempt to make some misguided point. I feel bad for him.

    • 2 years ago
  • joaarias
  • maneatingrobot
  • uberdeft
  • dainjdc
  • PajamaDan
  • mykuh
  • dankitti
  • Tyrannous
  • neonbunny
  • Bushido
    • 0
      Bushido  

    • Have you seen the movie? Durden does succeed if you think about it. The target buildings are all blown up, theoretically resetting the financial clock.

      No one was killed. Charge the kid with vandalism and move on. Inspiration is drawn from a multitude of sources.

    • 2 years ago
  • Lecti
    • 0
      Lecti  
    • Bushido:

      I think you're correct. It's been a while. let me see. So, I think in the book he fails, but he's not actually trying to blow anything up like he is in the beginning/end of the movie version. In the movie version, (and I might be mistaken) he blows up the data storage facilities for Equifax, Experian, and Transunion, which maintain the files of america's debt, thereby (at least theoretically) eliminating any record of financial debt. Anyone else remember?

    • 2 years ago
  • cztheday
    • 0
      cztheday  
    • Bushido:

      Vandalism? You gotta be kidding me. Did the kid know for certain there wasn't a cleaning person(s) on-site? Most Starbuck's locations have a portion of the store that is not visible from the windows (office, storage room, restrooms, etc). Did he know for certain there wasn't someone in the office? I have a small business, and there have been a couple of occasions over the years when I have been doing paperwork late into the evening, rested my eyes for a moment...and awakened several hours later.

      Perhaps even more importantly, how did he know somebody wouldn't walk in front of the store just as the bomb went off? This has to be at LEAST criminal endangerment. Of course, in a NYC courtroom it will be pled down to jaywalking, but at least START with a more serious charge...unless we want to essentially ENCOURAGE the guy to build more bombs...

    • 2 years ago
  • metalcookiesxy70
  • seanalyn
    • 0
      seanalyn  

    • I wonder if that kid got to the end of the the movie where you know, Edward shoots himself in the face.

      Why does Palahniuk love having his characters shoot themselves and miraculously live in like every story?

    • 2 years ago
  • pjcolpitts
  • seanalyn
    • 0
      seanalyn  
    • seanalyn:

      yeah Im actually reading the book right now...funny enough although its his most popular, its actually the only Palahniuk book I havent read. Figured I should finally read it and round out the collection ;)

    • 2 years ago
  • Sam_the_Wizer
  • numinant
    • 0
      numinant  
    • seanalyn:

      He didn't die in the book, did he? It's been like ten years since I read it, but I recall it ending with him in a hospital bed with a scarecrow smile engraved in stitches on his face.

    • 2 years ago
  • mycall306
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