Teddy bear shot in drive-by shooting

Drive-by shooters took aim at a giant stuffed teddy bear being used as a driveway marker in a residential neighbourhood of Juneau, Alaska, early on Thursday morning. Police received a secondhand report of the shots fired at about 5am and later learned that the homeowner had found a “small tiny bullet hole” in the stuffed animal’s face.

“It looks like what happened was someone drove in, saw the teddy bear, took a couple of shots at it and drove off,” Juneau Police Department spokesman Lt. David Campbell said. The homeowner, 34-year-old Brian Weed, said that he thought his house was being targeted because of his work. He’s a correctional officer at Lemon Creek Correctional Center.



“I’m a correctional officer; people threaten to kill me and my family like every other day,” he said. However, he later said it was probably more likely that the shooting was a “freak incident” by either kids or a drunken driver. The incident scared Weed’s wife, who was alone at home at the time, he said. She didn’t see the suspect vehicle but heard four or five gunshots in a row, then heard the vehicle drive off. A neighbour also heard the gunshots, police said.

Police do not have any evidence that the shooting was related to Weed’s job at Lemon Creek, Campbell said. “We haven’t received any other information that it was targeting him because of his profession,” said Campbell. “It looks like the shots were aimed at the stuffed animal.” Drive-by shootings aren’t unheard of in Juneau, but they are not common. Weed is offering an award for anyone who has information about the shooter that leads to his or her arrest.