Exploding cellphone battery that killed Chinese man was actually a gun

While some of the details still seem to be up in the air at the moment, it looks like that exploding cellphone battery that killed a man shopping at a Lenovo store in mainland China a couple of weeks back was actually not a cellphone battery at all, but rather an actual firearm of some sort. According to some roughly translated reports from Sohu.com, the "imitation firearm with bullets" suddenly fell to the ground at one point, which caused the bullets to fire up into the man's chest and neck arteries, leading to massive blood loss. The Telegraph newspaper further adds that the gun, which they describe as a home-made pistol, also damaged the man's cellphone when it went off, leading to the initial suspicion that the battery may be to blame. So there you have it, folks, while cellphones may or may not kill people, guns (makeshift or otherwise) certainly do.

Read - Sohu.com
Read - Telegraph.co.uk

[Jonathan @ Feb 10th 2009 2:48PM]

went are you going to start proofreading better?

[Makavre @ Feb 10th 2009 2:50PM]

oh the irony ....

do you mean "when" or did you intentionally spell "went"

[Samboini @ Feb 10th 2009 2:52PM]

Makavre, fail.

[DustPan @ Feb 10th 2009 2:52PM]

Went you do.

[Phil @ Feb 10th 2009 3:07PM]

From the article "also damaged the man's cellphone went it went off"

I believe it was intentional although over your heads.

[ImaYam @ Feb 10th 2009 3:19PM]

..and by "gun" we mean "firepower of love"

[~~~ @ Feb 10th 2009 5:14PM]

http://craziestgadgets.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/gun-phone.jpg

[Techie @ Feb 10th 2009 8:58PM]

It seems like the Chinese media is hiding the truth because they don't want to be blamed for defective batteries, again....

[loosely_coupled @ Feb 11th 2009 1:37AM]

HAHAHA.. this is just classic..

[OneLove @ Feb 11th 2009 2:48PM]

*PWND*

[Jinx @ Feb 10th 2009 2:50PM]

I thought it was too good to be true for a battery to cause that much damage.

[Peter F @ Feb 10th 2009 2:49PM]

Guess I can put my cell phone under my pillow again. But that loaded homemade gun with the safety off will have to go now.

[giuliop @ Feb 10th 2009 3:23PM]

Said Mr. Exploding Device.

[HunterXI @ Feb 10th 2009 3:37PM]

Ah, I dunno. This story is awfully fishy.

[Leo @ Feb 10th 2009 4:39PM]

Was gonna rank you up for your article, but down for your meagre comment....so I'll just leave things at the status quo.



/ironically pointless comment

/obligatory **sigh**

[loosely_coupled @ Feb 11th 2009 1:38AM]

"imitation firearm with bullets"

China is even making knock-off guns now??

[Riley @ Feb 11th 2009 10:11PM]

I really wish people would look up the word irony before they used it

[Centurionone @ Feb 10th 2009 2:56PM]

How are we ever to ascertain the truth...this is China! Without a bias, they are well known about their grip on press!

[JerseyBricklayer @ Feb 10th 2009 2:50PM]

Maybe it was the cellphone gun.

[ImaYam @ Feb 10th 2009 3:21PM]

Maybe it was his golden gun?

maybe is was already assembled?

[Rob @ Feb 10th 2009 2:54PM]

This "updated" report has been brought to you by the Association of Rechargeable Batteries and Devices of the World.

How come it took so long to find the bullet's point of entry?
This sounds like major incompetence on the part of the coroner, or an industrial cover up. Being that it happened in China, I guess we'll never know.

[Wwhat @ Feb 10th 2009 5:44PM]

Obviously the truth was known 2 minutes after the event and announced, but truth doesn't fill papers so they went with BS and decided to hold out as long as possible.

[Neoprimal @ Feb 10th 2009 2:59PM]

So I take it that a gun laying on the floor wasn't the first clue they found?

[KilgoreTrout @ Feb 10th 2009 3:17PM]

No, obviously before looking on the floor and finding the gun (homemade of course, because chinese guns are as safe as pacifiers) they checked out the cell phone to see if it could be saved.
Afterwards they examined the entry and exit wounds, roughly exteemed the caliber of the bullets and decided the cell phone was to blame; and after that they assembled all the reporters who were interested in this story in the dark basement of the police station for four days to make sure they got the facts right.

[Wwhat @ Feb 10th 2009 6:06PM]

the original story was this (translated):
" According to insiders who have witnessed the accident said the shopkeeper from this man's mouth about that incident the clerk of a mobile phone pocket on their chests at night in the store goes to work, on the chest pocket of the mobile phone suddenly occurred explosion."

So yeah if you stand behind the counter and tell what you saw it's perfectly reasonable to suspect the phone exploded, that wasn't the announcement by the cops though but a secondhand story from a confused witness talking.

But excuse me for interrupting the china-bashing you were busy with, as you were told to do by the independent western press after they got the memo the neocons put out. Don't you love freedom? Please continue.

[Jimmy Jones @ Feb 10th 2009 3:00PM]

Jeez... I've been so paranoid about this since I heard this. I don't carry my phone in my shirt top pocket nemore... and neither in my jeans pocket either. I can't afford to kill myself over my addiction and insistence to use n carry cellphone around with me.

Well, I have to find a way to think otherwise now [to live with once again w/o much paranoia]

[Zapp @ Feb 10th 2009 5:22PM]

You know what's really scary? You can lose your penis if it gets zipped up in the fly of your jeans! Seriously, I just read this article on Xinhua. Apparently it comes right off, like Velcro. They say the only safe solution is to remove all of the zippers from your pants.

[Craig B. @ Feb 10th 2009 5:40PM]

Huh, and I was wondering where Elvis went...

[Jimmy Jones @ Feb 10th 2009 6:01PM]

@ Zapp,

Well, if that's the case, I'll keep my phone at home. I found myself constant needing my dagger on a daily basis for all sort of things. Besides, lots of little Jimmy Jones Jr I, II, III, and IV are bound to happy in the future.... so my gadgetry can't get in the way by any means

[Matt @ Feb 10th 2009 3:00PM]

Well, this thing lodged in his body looks like a bullet, but since he had a cellphone nearby, it's obviously a battery.

See the gun on the ground with an empty cartridge? Simply a coincidence.


>.

[zephxiii @ Feb 10th 2009 3:00PM]

The cellphone triggered the gun!

on another note, I actually feel safer now.

[patriotsn1 @ Feb 10th 2009 3:02PM]

too bad he wasn't using a RAZR!

http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/21/razr-stops-a-bullet-its-owner-reports-feeling-lucky/

[Ethan @ Feb 10th 2009 3:04PM]

So, not a battery, but a complete asshat. And an asshat with a rubbish aim at that.

[Pikl @ Feb 10th 2009 3:10PM]

...n-no... you see, if the PERSON was a complete asshat, than he's not directly comparable with the battery. Asshole-device might be more appropriate, but... I'm hard-pressed to say even that. A cellphone-disguised firearm isn't a criminal implication, it's a cellphone-disguised firearm. Could it be used by an asshole in a criminal act? It could. It could just as easily be used by a gentleman painting the wall with his would-be mugger's neck juice.

[Pikl @ Feb 10th 2009 3:07PM]

Realistically, I doubt you could point a finger at Nokia. Nokia makes cellphones -- not guns. Now, ANOTHER company could, potentially, make a firearm into an identical Nokia phone lookalike -- which would be very smart, if their sales were intended for the clandestine firearms market.

Since the weapon went off by simply falling on the floor, however, I'd be wary of that clandestine firearms maker -- as obviously they haven't a damn clue as to how to build a proper safety. I guess the perfect concealed weapon to replace my not-yet-purchased Springfield XD-M has yet to be made...

[Flashpoint @ Feb 10th 2009 3:08PM]

Take it from someone who's lived in CHina for a long period of time.

NO NEWS CAN BE TRUSTED COMING FROM THE PRC GOVERNMENT.

#1 They censore everything. I had to send my friends there private emails just so they could KNOW that Wen JiaoBao got a shoe thrown at him when he came here. The PRC bottled it up.

#2 The space walk - and I'm not one for conspiracies- shows bubbles, coming out of the Chinese spacesuit and the radio transmissions are ridiculously clear compared to Russian/American transmissions.

#3 During Obama's speech, Obama mentioned "Communis___" and was blocked by CCTV.


The way I see it, God only knows what happened to this guy. But if you want ME to believe a LAPTOP BATTERY exploded and killed him, then.... I just don't know what to say about that.

You're bullshitting me.

[whowhatme @ Feb 10th 2009 3:39PM]

wireless communication has come a long way Flashpoint.

[Mobius_1 @ Feb 10th 2009 6:58PM]

Because this post is so full of politics, Flashpoint.

Your comments make me feel sick.

[Christian @ Feb 10th 2009 3:14PM]

Will that home-made pistol be avialable in the internets just like hacking the street signs?

[Deuche ex Machina @ Feb 10th 2009 3:50PM]

Zombies Ahead!! Run for your lives!!

[Christian @ Feb 10th 2009 5:06PM]

Which is why we need those guns!

[Fred @ Feb 10th 2009 3:16PM]

Guns don't kill people, morons do.

[phanbouy fan fan @ Feb 10th 2009 3:19PM]

Leave the mormons outta this

[giuliop @ Feb 10th 2009 3:25PM]

It's "Morons with guns kill people".

[robogobo @ Feb 10th 2009 3:44PM]

it's "morons with guns who drop them" kill people. see also cellphones.

[dale1v @ Feb 10th 2009 3:16PM]

Best imitation he's ever seen then.

[jmzrbnsn @ Feb 11th 2009 6:35PM]

Surprised no-one has yet mentioned the bulletproof-ness of iPhones ;)

[Bobby Freeman @ Feb 10th 2009 3:22PM]

I nominate him for a Darwin Award, although I suspect more simply stunning entrants by the end of 2009. Carrying around a loaded home-made pistol without a safety, dropping it causing it to discharge into yourself is further proof that intelligence has limits, but ignorance does not!

[C4-M↨ke @ Feb 10th 2009 3:24PM]

WOW!! He got killed with a pistol and the killer aimed at the cell phone, to blame it on; i knew cell phones didn't kill people, people kill cell phones when they smash it or shot it. lol

[kangbp.nyc @ Feb 10th 2009 3:43PM]

wow. biggest bullshit ever.

how in the fucking world can this happen?

1) a man create a imitation weapon complete with bullets guns arent easy to make - especially if you want the bullet to fire straight, and the not explode the chamber
2) why would anyone walk around with it (was he trying to rob a store?)
3)how would it just drop? what, chinese cut corners with the stitches in the breast pocket and it burst under the weight?

and even if this is all true, if gunfire (complete with bullet casing i assume) went off, who in the fucking world would suspect a cellphone battery??

someone should tell the PRC and CCTV to make sure their lies make some sense