GameStop robbery foiled by ceiling, locks
by Justin McElroy 
{ Jun 23rd 2009 at 3:00PM }
A Nintendo Game Counselor consulted about the crime said that if the thief had looked inside the glowing sphere in the corner of the store, he would have found a blue key for the door. Ouch, random criminal, so close.
[Thanks, David]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Masker @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:05PM
And I Would've gotten away for it if it hadn't been for those meddling talking game cases.
Captain Planet @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:30PM
Or if he had paid more attention to the lock picking segment of Fallout 3 ;)
Skaz @ Jun 23rd 2009 4:48PM
Or just let the game play itself for a little while to see how it's done if it's the new Zelda
N-zero @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:05PM
HAHAHAAHAHAHAHA THEY WILL NEVER FIND ME
THE WICKER MAN (BWF) (GT: Dalek Prime) @ Jun 23rd 2009 4:00PM
You never left the store did you? You just hid in a card board box and made good your escape when they opened.
Rob @ Jun 23rd 2009 4:14PM
Well now they will, you just revealed it was you.
Zexion_VI @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:10PM
Did he take anything? lo seems pointless to break in and then break out with nothing to show for it.
Heavytoka @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:13PM
Yeah I also wonder what he got away with lol
NemesisCW @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:14PM
I think he was meaning to unlock it from the inside then haul off systems through the front door.
Zexion_VI @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:17PM
Guess he wasn't a master of unlocking
KaBob799 @ Jun 23rd 2009 5:13PM
You would think they would at least grab a DSi or something.
acme @ Jun 23rd 2009 10:42PM
achievement...locked?
Jrinswand @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:10PM
Hahaha, what a dumbass!
What did he think he'd be able to take once he was actually inside the store? All of the most valuable items are fairly hefty: video game consoles, Rock Band/Guitar Hero bundles, Wii Fits, etc.
BigD145 @ Jun 23rd 2009 4:19PM
Consoles are small enough to fit in the chest cavity of an adult male. If you can get through air ducts, so can consoles.
Shagittarius @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:11PM
Did he take their used games and leave 4 bucks for each?
I mean thats just business as usual isn't it?
whylekat @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:14PM
No they usually give .50 cents to $2. Gamestop would've made money If he left $4. ;)
Shagittarius @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:20PM
Gamestop Robbery foiled when customers refuse to sell their used games.
THE WICKER MAN (BWF) (GT: Dalek Prime) @ Jun 23rd 2009 4:01PM
I wish he had stolen as much as possible and then taken it to a pawn shop. (like the the gamestop down the street from that one.)
Rob @ Jun 23rd 2009 4:21PM
OH, BURN!!!!
Rhamsey @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:11PM
He probably just wanted his pre order money back.
emirabal @ Jun 23rd 2009 5:19PM
For Duke Nuke Em
Cody @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:15PM
Come to think of it... has anyone seen Dirty post anything today?
SecretAgentHam @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:15PM
i think you're on to something there...
Dirty @ Jun 23rd 2009 5:18PM
lol
Jay Voorhees @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:15PM
Why would you go through all that effort to not get anything. He must have been comming for the RB super bundle or something he couldnt shove down his underwear and still make his escape.
LaughingTarget @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:16PM
Tips for future thieves:
1. Hit the ~ key
2. Type in "noclip" without the quotes.
3. Walk through the wall
Be sure to disable noclip when trying to pick something up to steal or your hand will pass through it.
Jrinswand @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:28PM
Or just enter "dncornholio"/"g_godMode = 1" and kick the fucking front door down.
jsut @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:59PM
And how's he meant to noclip his way back out without having to drop the loot?
Cosmo (formerly Chin-Poh) @ Jun 23rd 2009 4:00PM
Too bad the console commands only work on PC games so console gamers are outta luck. : D
Jrinswand @ Jun 23rd 2009 4:06PM
Well, at least you'll always have the Konami Code.
NoughtSoClever @ Jun 23rd 2009 4:10PM
Duh, jsut. The loot would be in his inventory by that point.
emirabal @ Jun 23rd 2009 5:21PM
LMFAO, you brought back so many fond memories of my quake days.
SecretAgentHam @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:16PM
reading this story brings back some metal gear moments. maybe the recent PSN release of it gave him the idea.
no solid snake, that one.
WiiFTW @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:21PM
Go Pittsburgh!
John @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:25PM
Maybe he was trying to make game stop feel like their customers do at a trade in transaction?
And East Liberty is a shit hole.
John Z @ Jun 23rd 2009 4:13PM
To do that he'd have to have scattered several thousand post-it notes all reading "Hi! Would you like to pre-order 'Serial Homicide'? Just $5 down guarantees you a bullet on release day!".
I'm SO going to Hell for that one.
atrimus @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:32PM
dammit! i was hoping he/she would've got caught on camera or something so i could've seen this on Smoking Guns Presents...
ryanpaulmcgowan @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:33PM
Fuck yeah! Fight Night!
Shimrra @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:38PM
Can you blame the robber I mean every has to get that Hanna Montana PSP limited edition...eh? Anyone? Anyone?
samfish (uses the Joystiq Comment-Kill filter!) @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:39PM
Ahhh, the ceiling. My old nemesis! I see you've foiled yet another dastardly plot!
chrisflyer @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:42PM
This is my neighborhood. And also, one of the worst Gamestop stores in the city. That said, glad nobody got hurt or anything.
relaxeder @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:43PM
Should have asked Mei Ling where the card key was.
John Z @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:45PM
Holy crap, I shop there! Well, I have shopped there. In the past. After exhausting the seventeen other Gamestops I can get to. (Seriously, this town is WAY oversaturated with them.) Or if I'm at the Trader Joe's nearby. (Wait wait-- this is the one where I found Soul Nomad and Makai Kingdom... oh. What a shame.)
To be fair, the clerks there are cool-- one recognized me from a completely unrelated event she'd seen me at. In general I don't think I've come across any GS clerks that are total d-bags here in Pittsburgh.
One thing, though; I was under the impression that the gates and everything had keyless latches on the inside, so that someone couldn't become trapped inside. More to the point, the thief could have tried using the BACK door as an egress point; that was probably only secured by a simple deadbolt, so a swift kick or two could probably have that opened up. From there it's just a matter of driving around, loading up his truck, and going crazy.
(disclaimer: I don't want to rob a Gamestop, really honestly, I'm a nice guy)
samfish (uses the Joystiq Comment-Kill filter!) @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:55PM
Yeah, but the store probably has alarms. If you kicked the deadbolt off and opened the door just to get in, you'd set it off, thus leaving you with less time to rob the place.
If he had successfully snuck in through the ceiling, he could have taken his jolly old time robbing the place and used the alarm time to load up his car and make his getaway since he'd probably have a window of about 5 minutes.
Jrinswand @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:57PM
That wouldn't work for reasons that I'm not sure I'm allowed to say.
I can tell you, though, that I've always been fond of the robberies in which the robbers just back a truck through the front window of the store. I'm pretty sure that would work.
Draco @ Jun 23rd 2009 4:05PM
I'm suprised there were no motion detectors inside.
and why steal games from the store when you can steal them from the internet in the luxury of your own home?
John Z @ Jun 23rd 2009 4:10PM
Oh, one other thought: near as I can tell, I think maybe the thief wasn't looking to steal games as much as he was looking to steal money. If I'm remembering the store correctly, there's a fairly large and obvious safe in the back of the store (but not in the actual back room) that would make for a fairly tempting target, were it not for the fact that the daily receipts are taken to the bank's night drop immediately upon closing. Each register starts and ends every day with only a specific amount of money, usually in the sub $500 range. The thief probably didn't find a large burlap sack conveniently labeled "$$$" and gave up.
And besides, it was a Monday anyway, so the take would be pretty damn meager compared to, say, a Wednesday night (release day) or any given weekend. (again, I don't want to rob a gamestop)
Rob @ Jun 23rd 2009 4:18PM
@John Z
For a man who doesn't want to rob a store, you have a disturbing amount of knowledge on how to do it. Just saying...
Ryan @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:50PM
"After numerous phone calls, a would be thief decided to take it upon him/herself to see if his/her local GameStop really didnt have Uncharted 2 in stock yet."
Draco @ Jun 23rd 2009 3:52PM
I would sue Gamestop. what if there was a fire? he could have died!