Posted
9/15/2005 05:35:00 PM
by Douglas
Bizzarre. Maybe he really wanted a
Toyota.A participant in an East Texas contest popularized in a 1998 documentary film left the event early today, broke into a nearby store, retrieved a shotgun and killed himself, police said.
Richard Vega, 24, of Tyler left the "Hands on a Hardbody" contest at Patterson Nissan around 6 a.m., about the time that a break was called, said police Sgt. Carlos Samples. The rules of the contest require participants to lay one hand flat on a truck at all times. The contestant who holds out longest drives the truck home.
Vega crossed the street to a Kmart, broke the glass in the front door, climbed through, then went to the sporting goods department and took a 12-gauge shotgun, police said. Officers called to the scene were coming in the front of the store as Vega approached from the back.
I'm sure this has something to do with regular unleaded being close to $3 a gallon. . . in Texas.