Colorado Springs robber armed with Klingon sword hits 2 stores
By Kieran Nicholson
The Denver Post
Posted: 02/04/2009 09:17:13 AM MST
Updated: 02/04/2009 12:12:42 PM MST

A publicity photo shows an actor in Klingon garb, wielding a bathleth, like the one used in the Colorado Springs robberies. (LAS VEGAS MONORAIL | REACH GROUP)

A man wielding a "Star Trek Klingon type sword" robbed two Colorado Springs convenience stores early this morning, police said.

The first armed robbery happened at about 1:55 a.m. at a 7-11 at 145 N Spruce St., Colorado Springs Police said in an incident report. The second robbery happened at about 2:20 a.m. at a 7-11 store at 2407 N. Union Blvd.

Witnesses told police a man wearing a black mask, black jacket and blue jeans entered the stores carrying a sword. The armed robber took an undisclosed amount of cash and fled on foot from both stores, police said.

Officers searched the area but didn't find the robber or the weapon, which was described as a "Batleth."

http://origin.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_11625687

Found this in our local paper thought it was kind of funny

Here's the picture missing from the article.



I always have a hard time seeing the practical application of this weapon... Sure it's dangerous if it's sharpened but you can't maneuver this monstrosity like you can with a large knife.

They probably just didn't want to touch a Star Trek nerd.

LOL! That is probably the truth!

Did they use it casually in the Star Trek universe? By which I mean, would someone actually carry it with them as a melee backup in case their phaser runs out of juice, or was it a ceremonial thing? Like those swords they give Marines: no one expects them to actually take it out and fight dudes with it, they just want him to know how because it's kind of tradition at this point.

No... they use it in the show. The tactic seems to be all about ramming the guy in front of them with this "sword" in hand and hope for the best.

It's supposed to be this honorable weapon of the Klingons. Using it brings honor or whatever.

See! They use it. There's a big fight scene 4 minutes into this video.


This is a visual demonstration from a video game called Star Trek: Elite Force 2


I also find this video to be funny.

Hey guys! I found the culprit.

Whoa! That guy must have A LOT of time on his hands to choreograph his little battle there. I wonder if he does LARPing too?

Perhaps we should turn that video into the Police?

The difference, if I remember right, is that those Marine sabers are made in a way that if you did have to smack someone with it, it would actually do some damage. The Klingon thing there is pretty much completely unusable as a weapon even if you do the whole ramming thing as Product Placement said. Watching that guy swing it around it looks incredibly slow and unwieldy as a sword. Most of the damage inflicted by a bladed weapon is a result of the weight simply forcing it's way through the body from momentum. That and I don't think running at a guy with a piece of metal in front of your chest is exactly the most effective tactic.

I'm really not sure I'd be all that intimidated by a guy with one of those things. I wonder if they just gave him the money to get rid of him?

Yeah, it's not a sword. It's a prop.

Jeebus...

May as well rob a place with a plastic phaser. -_-

But then all it takes is attitude and intimidation, the "weapon" isn't that important as long as the target is frightened enough. That's why I despise the numbfucks who not only use guns to do a robbery, but actually SHOOT the people in the shop they're robbing. Those idiots don't get it. This Star Treck doofus is way about THEIR pathetic level.

I think it's rediculous that someone would even do such a thing.

It's used in a similar fashion to any other double bladed polearm. Like that double ended light saber? Same thing. Besides there's the rule of cool. the guy with the really cool weapon, no matter how ridiculous it would be to use in real life, will win just because it's so cool.

I don't know a whole lot of Marines who wore that saber in dress blues who knew how to use it beyond "present arms" and "shoulder arms" It's like the US Army cavalry officer who can wear a cavalry saber, wide brimmed Hardee hat, boots and spurs in dress blues and look like an extra from the John Ford/John Wayne cavalry movie She Wore a Yellow Ribbon Do you honestly think he can ride a horse?

That being said I wouldn't want to take the chance that the Trekkie knows how to use the damn thing and actually sharpened the blades. Same way I'm not going to argue with some geek who dresses up in full Highland attire and points a Claymore at me. Just because one is cultural and one is a TV show doesn't make it any less ridiculous.

(Then there was the naked guy with the broadsword who massacred all those people in that church. Maybe he believed himself a traditional Pict)

If he did, then he had the wrong weapon... Broadswords are pretty modern things, contemporary with pistols.

Besides, the Bat-thinga-ma-bob is just impractical anyway. You say "polearm", but even polearms are useless as anything but a spear unless you have a lot of clear space.

For intimidation purposes though, a blood-filled syringe or sharpened screwdriver is enough. So it works on that criteria.

Creating a show makes gd news though, like the builder dressed as Thor who scarred the daylights out a burglar the other week. ^__^

I guess I just have an unusually bloodthirsty group of Marines for cousins and family then. I know that at least from what I saw in those videos, with the training I have in how to use blades, it wouldn't be much of a contest with how slow that thing is.

The point I was making though is less about whether or not the person holding it knows how to use it, but more about whether or not the weapon is actually capable of being used as a effective tool. In my example, I meant that the Marine saber is much more effective just from it's origin of being designed as a combat weapon by someone who knew what they were doing, whereas the Klingon blade was designed to just look cool. As Oz said, the same goes for any weapon with a blade on both ends. It might have greater if you're lucky, but they're all too often so slow that the more conventional weapon is too fast to counter.

Pros: It's looks very intimidating. If you know how to use it you can do some serious damage to someone but only if you really hit him right. It looks like a good blocking tool.

Cons: It's cumbersome. It looks heavy(unless it's made from super light alloy). It offers very limited number of moves. It doesn't have good reach. In order to use it properly you need to use both arms. If your opponent is armed as well (with a practical weapon) there's a good chance you'll lose. It certainly doesn't qualify as a concealable weapon.

Heh... the elegance of it's design... crafted for precision and balance...

Just as an FYI this article actually has a picture of the security camera, showing that he actually is using a miniature recreation of the Batt'leth (which, oddly enough, probably makes it a much more efficient weapon). He also appears to be holding it backwards.

Personally, I don't care how horribly inefficient a weapon is. If I was working at a convenience store and someone showed up with the "CutYourOwnHandOffinator" from Krull I would just give him the money. Just because it's not an efficient weapon doesn't mean it's not dangerous.

Why... that's not a batleth! That seems to be an... odd... double... knife... of some sort. A batleth is that huge bulky sword that we've been talking about. And like I mentioned, that klingon sword may work like a good intimation tool against an unarmed man but it's considerably easier to disarm him then one wielding a simple large knife. And like Oz said, I'd considered a bloody syringe to be considerably more intimidating than that sword.

Edit.
Hmm.. apparently, according to one of the comments in the article, this is a blade from a fantasy story called "The Tale of the Swords of the Ancients and Other Blades of Power". You can buy it online here. http://budk.com/product.asp?pn=14%20KR8SE&c=6037&bhcd2=1233972823

So... this is less a case of a robber being a huge nerd as it is a couple of gas station attendants are huge nerds... and also the robber is pretty frickin' tacky.

Seems so

man, kids, ya gotta find a better use of yer time! robbing a quick-e-mart with a star trek prop does NOT get you a date...

It's the rule of cool. Fancy, really cool looking weapon will win over normal weapons and be so much more intimidating just because they are so cool.

I used to get the blade/sword catalogs and they always had the "fantasy" section with the cool weapons like that. Unless I had the mundane shotgun under the counter I'd just give him the money and hoped he left before he demonstrated how well( if at all) he could use the damn thing.

Nah, I'd jump over the counter with my SAS survival knife and give him the what for! (That's not a knife. THIS is a knife. It's HUGE. And SAS cool trumps Star Trek cool.

This man begs to differ. There's nothing as awesome as him. At least in his mind.

Ha ha thats kinda funny he should have spoke in Klingon the whole time.

Too much spitting involved. I remember reading the disclaimer in the Klingon dictionary then hearing the Worf narrated Klingon language album.

As for bat'leth kendo... Yeah, he's cool in a pathetic sort of way.

I can just see him coming into the Kwik Stop, Dante Hicks handing over the till and Randall and the SEALs from nearby Earle NWS just laughing themselves silly.

I don't know if learning to use a Batt'leth is any more or less sad than learning to use a lightsaber. I mean, yeah, Batt'leth's are generally actually made of metal, but if you replaced the glowstick or whatever they make full-sized lightsabers out of with a lead pipe, you're bound to have a much more efficient weapon.

Well as nerdy as I may sound while saying this, lightsaber fighting styles are partially based on actual weapon styles, most dominantly Asian style saber fighting. When fighting with sabers you focus on swinging and blocking like they do with lightsabers. While making the prequel movies, the stunt coordinator wanted to make the lightsaber fighting experience more remarkable than in the first three movies and set himself the task to create brand new fighting styles. In the original trilogy the fights were based on European fencing and it was decided that the new fighting forms should be based on oriental fighting styles. He combined many forms of moves that seemed practical to use with a weapon that could supposedly cut through everything and included all kinds of funny forms of swings, for example, ones he had seen in footage of proper handling of axes for wood cutters. The end result is that flamboyant flurry fighting that we see in the movies. Anyone who's experienced in fighting with swords for real can easily disarm someone who fights like that. Still if you're fighting someone who's unarmed, and more importantly, someone who can't distinct between practical moves and fancy ones, then the fight is on your side.

Also, I'm inclined to believe that a lead pipe is probably a much more practical weapon than the bat'leth. Meheh... crafted for precision and balance...

You have better results with a Final Fantasy Buster Sword replica...Not that I have one...or want one...

Ah, C´mon, no matter what, swords are cool!!!!