Jogger in Gas Mask Causes Post Office to Shut Down
A San Jose post office was shut down Tuesday for a false alarm.
A full-scale police response with bomb squad and a robot reported to the scene where a man in unusual jogging gear stuffed a package at a drop-off box.
According to San Jose’s Mercury News, the San Jose police said the suspicious-looking jogger was seen fidgeting with a package at a drop-off box in hard-core, albeit odd-looking, exercise gear.
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"The guy said he was wearing a cardio mask," said Sgt. Jason Dwyer to the Mercury News. "It was his cardio day, and he was trying to lose weight."
It is reported that the man was seen stuffing a package in a blue mailbox about 12:30 p.m., when a customer called police. The police closed down the post office immediately and remained closed until 4:30 p.m.
Around 150 employees and customers were directed to the back of the post office until authorities arrived and checked out the scene.
“What is really funny is that I saw this all go down, I even saw the guy jogging with the gas mask, and I even told the police that the guy was just working out, but no one believed me at all until today EH OH EL,” Jeff d’Ambly commented on the Merurcy News’ Facebook profile.
The mystery man turned out to be Long Hoang, a student at Cal State East Bay. He lives close to the post office and decided to drop off a package of calendars that was mistakenly mailed to him.
Hoang recently started a CrossFit exercise regimen and he wears, what resembles a gas mask, to help him lose weight.
Hoang’s attire is so recognizable that friends and people in the neighborhood figured who it might be.
“My friends kept messaging me, 'Is this you? Is this you?'," said Hoang.
The Mercury News reports that when Hoang later realized his actions had caused such a commotion, captured by the newspaper and many other media organizations, he called police Tuesday evening. He said the suspicious man was him - a nursing student trying to get into shape.
Police verified Hoang’s story.
