It has come to this. A Florida county sheriff's office felt compelled to tell residents not fire weapons at Hurricane Irma after a social media page advocating shooting the storm went viral.
Hurricane Irma's eye made landfall Sunday morning in the Florida Keys on its way toward Tampa Bay.
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Pasco County is on Florida's west coast near Tampa.
Two men started a Facebook event page entitled "Shoot At Hurricane Irma" adding "Lets show Irma that we shoot first." As of Sunday morning, 54,000 people said they were interested.
One of authors of the page said the post was an attempt at humor.
"A combination of stress and boredom made me start the event," Ryon Edwards told BBC.
It was to "lighten the mood. … The response is a complete and total surprise to me. I never envisioned this event becoming some kind of crazy idea larger than myself. It has become something a little out of my control," he said.
After some on Twitter questioned the credibility of the original report, Pasco County Sheriff's Office later said that the tens of thousands of responses compelled it to comment.
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Weather and Natural Disasters
Florida sheriff warns residents not to shoot at Hurricane Irma: 'You won't make it turn around'
Key Points
- The Pasco County Sheriff's Office tells Floridians not to fire weapons at Hurricane Irma after a social media page advocating shooting the storm went viral.
- "DO NOT shoot weapons @ #Irma. You won't make it turn around & it will have very dangerous side effects," the office posted on Twitter.
- Pasco County is on Florida's west coast near Tampa.
A man takes photos at the beach in advance of Hurricane Irma's expected arrival in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S., September 9, 2017.
Carlo Allegri | Reuters