WASHINGTON - Tragedy struck the George Washington University earlier this week, as an errant firing of the Colonial’s new T-Shirt cannon struck the jumbotron in the Charles E. Smith Center, causing it to crash to the ground.
The accident took place late Tuesday afternoon, during cheer
practice.
“It was terrifying,” said Molly Eckhart, a Sophomore.
Eckhart and the rest of her squad were going through a normal
practice session. They had already finished practicing their triple flips off
of the human pyramid, and were just about to practice with the t-shirt gun.
The team has been working on a new technique where the
cheerleaders would leap up, catch the t-shirt mid-air, put the t-shirt on as
they fell, and then land perfectly on a rickety balance board below.
“Things didn’t go as planned today,” Eckhart remarked.
George, the well-beloved and bobble-headed mascot of the
Colonials, was the one operating the t-shirt cannon. He apparently
miscalculated his trajectory, and overshot his t-shirt right into the
jumbotron. The 138-gram polyester t-shirt immediately ripped the 49,000-lb
screen off its metal hinges to send it crashing to the floor.
GW officials were quick to report that the damage to the jumbotron
was minimal and that it could be repaired with a single student’s worth of
tuition in about a week.
They also briefly mentioned that no one was maimed.
George has gone missing since the accident and is presumed to be
at-large. If anyone sees him, Campus Security has asked that you do not
approach him and that you call 9-11, as he is still armed with the t-shirt
cannon and is dangerous.
