Weazel News Reporter Detained After Admitting to Having “Bazooka” Which Was Actually a TV Prop
SANDY SHORES — What started as a quiet afternoon drive for a Weazel News field reporter turned into an impromptu police spectacle yesterday, after a traffic stop near Sandy Shores spiraled into a full response from SVPD and other agencies.
The incident began when an officer from the Senora Valley Police Department pulled over a clearly marked Weazel News van for what officials would later only describe as “a minor traffic infraction.” Routine questions were asked, including the standard: “Any weapons or dangerous items in the vehicle?”
According to the reporter, their answer was intended to be both honest and harmless: “Well, I do have a bazooka in the back"
Unfortunately, from what our reporter said that, before he could clarify, the officer suddenly walked away from the vehicle.
Within minutes, the radio chatter in the area reportedly lit up like a New Year’s Eve fireworks display. Additional patrol cars converged from every direction, sirens wailing, lights flashing. The reporter was ordered out of the vehicle, placed in handcuffs, and escorted to the back of a police cruiser while officers prepared to “safely extract” the suspected weapon.
What emerged from the van was… less than threatening.
The “bazooka” was in fact a large, hollow, rubber-and-plastic prop, battered from years of use on sets, its faded paint peeling in places and one end entirely sealed shut. Designed to look intimidating on camera but incapable of firing anything more dangerous than a puff of stage smoke, it had been part of an upcoming Weazel News segment exploring “Hollywood’s Greatest Fake Weapons.”
Still, the police treated it with the same caution reserved for live munitions. Officers carried it away gingerly, holding it at arm’s length, before running it through what sources described as “every possible test short of trying to fire it.”
After nearly an hour of investigation and the arrival of firearms experts “just to be sure”, the prop was finally cleared. The reporter was released without charges, though they were advised to “reconsider how you answer questions about weapons during a traffic stop.”
Weazel News management has responded, saying they stand by their reporter’s commitment to transparency, but have updated internal guidelines: Never say the word “bazooka” to an officer unless you want to see half the county’s budget pull up behind you.
Locals are still talking about the incident, with some joking that it was the most action Sandy Shores has seen since the infamous “Goose in the Liquor Store” standoff of 2019. Others questioned whether such a large-scale response was necessary for an object that could have been identified as a prop “by tapping on it with one finger.”
