HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — A passionate hockey fan’s shouts to “shoot,” as in a puck, where misunderstood by a neighbor who called the police thinking the sports fan watching the Stanley Cup finals was armed and dangerous.
Devon Garnett, a huge fan of the Tampa Bay Lightning, was watching the game on television Wednesday night with friends who were screaming for Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman and the team’s offense against the Dallas Stars, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
A downstairs neighbor called the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office at 8:24 p.m. after mistaking the group’s raucous shouts at the TV, “Shoot! Shoot!”
“So they came to the door and thought there were guns in the house,” Garnett said. “We’re like, ‘Nope, we’re just screaming for Steven Stamkos.’”
Four deputies responded.
When the misunderstanding was cleared up, the deputies went on their way.
“(The police) completely understood and just laughed it off,” Garnett said. “But they thought it was serious because I was screaming ‘Shoot!’ as in ‘Shoot the puck.’”
The Lightning won the game 5-2 with goals from Stamkos and Hedman, among others. They lead the series 2-1.