Man robs store with plant as weapon

Gelando Olivieri was caught on surveillance video attempting to rob a convenience store in DeLand, Florida. His weapon? A palm frond. A customer fended him off with a bar stool.
Link (via Fortean Times)

Previously on BB:
• Man disguised as tree robs bank Link
• Robber disguised face with duct tape Link

[#1 posted by nabru , June 23, 2008 9:17 AM]

Aaaah Yes, barstool always wins against palm frond.

[#2 posted by LogrusZed , June 23, 2008 9:20 AM]

Actually he FAILed to rob the store with a plant.

[#3 posted by Enochrewt , June 23, 2008 9:27 AM]

#1: But what wins against a barstool and loses to a palm frond? If we figure it out there's a whole new convenience store robber rock-paper-scissors to play.

[#4 posted by Antinous , June 23, 2008 9:30 AM]

Hey, some of those things have big thorns on the sides. You could saw somebody's neck open with one. At least if they'd stand still for a while.

[#5 posted by Frank_in_Virginia , June 23, 2008 9:38 AM]

Maybe he went to USC. The motto of the University of Southern California is "Palmam qui meruit ferat", "Let him bear the palm who has deserved it".

[#6 posted by ArtLover , June 23, 2008 9:52 AM]

Barstool chases Palm Frond which is claimed newsworthy on...BoingBoing? Just, what hand gesture do you use for BoingBoing?

[#7 posted by hep cat , June 23, 2008 10:24 AM]

: But what wins against a barstool and loses to a palm frond?

Feathers!
as in
feathers bury barstool
and
palm frond sweeps away feathers

[#8 posted by Kibble , June 23, 2008 10:29 AM]

Yet more evidence of America's yawning educational gap. They don't teach kids how to steal any more, just how to pass tests on stealing.

[#9 posted by The Joey B , June 23, 2008 10:35 AM]

To be fair, it wasn't exactly a "palm frond". It was a Spanish Bayonet in the yucca family. For anyone who has grown up around them like I did, you'd consider it a weapon.

[#10 posted by The Joey B , June 23, 2008 10:40 AM]

Ah... never mind. I just caught the video. I'd heard of the story over the weekend from one of the rags which reported it as a spanish bayonet. Still, he had sharpened the stem end of the palm frond which would still have put a pretty decent hole in someone.

[#11 posted by Jerril , June 23, 2008 10:42 AM]

Yeah, it sounds a little more accurate to say "Man attempts to rob store with spear as weapon."

It's a crappy spear, but it's still a spear.

[#12 posted by Daemon , June 23, 2008 11:06 AM]

Bar stool, eh? A weapon any teckla would be proud of.

[#13 posted by Nores , June 23, 2008 11:13 AM]

You know you're already my obsession
Stop (stop) using plants as a weapon!

[#14 posted by brightblue , June 23, 2008 11:46 AM]

Deland, FL is a classy, classy place. Oh yeah.

[#15 posted by Silva , June 23, 2008 8:28 PM]

It was a viciously sharp slice of mango, wasn't it, sir?

[#16 posted by sandalian , June 23, 2008 9:37 PM]

Why didn't he just use sharpened wood instead of palm frond as spear?

I think he need to read instructtable a lot more.

[#17 posted by Brian Damage , June 24, 2008 5:50 AM]

Did he schedule the heist on his palm pilot?

[#18 posted by Ryan Waddell , June 24, 2008 9:21 AM]

Am I the only one who read this story and thought "Why is there a barstool in a convenience store?"

[#19 posted by Antinous , June 24, 2008 10:54 AM]

To the contrary, I think "Why isn't there a bar in this public library?"

[#20 posted by zuzu , June 24, 2008 11:02 AM]

To the contrary, I think "Why isn't there a bar in this public library?"

It's like you can gaze into my soul!

::swoon::

[#21 posted by macrumpton , June 25, 2008 3:59 PM]

Every time I hear about something too stupid or corrupt to believe, it usually happened in Florida.

The last one was the state legislature considering a law banning artificial testicles that are meant to be hung from the trailer hitch on your pickup.

I'm so proud to live in Florida

[#22 posted by hohum , June 27, 2008 11:50 AM]

Just recently, we had a nice game of banana vs. knife around my parts.... Food fight!