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NY LaGuardia suspect frequented piano store

August 5, 2009 By The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — The man accused of causing a bomb scare that shut down LaGuardia Airport is described as a "brilliant" classical pianist.

Scott McGann was a frequent visitor at Beethoven Pianos in Manhattan, where he rented a piano for $15 an hour. He was there the day before his arrest.

The store's marketing manager, Perry Fellwock, said the "brilliant" pianist was "always welcome" there.

Fellwock tells the Daily News: "He's not a terrorist. ... We all know him."

McGann is accused of carrying a phony bomb into LaGuardia. The airport was closed for several hours on Saturday.

McGann was charged with placing a false bomb in a transportation facility and making a terrorist threat. He's undergoing a psychiatric evaluation and if he's found competent he will appear in court Aug. 18.

https://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubb...rt%20bomb%20scare%20suspect%20is%20.html

It is obviously such an important topic (given the possible clampdown on classical pianists) that we need two places to discuss it.

I bet the phony bomb was just his metronome ticking and airport security is just retarded =O

Maybe it was a prop for the Revolutionary Etude - - - -

I can see you've dealt with TSA workers too. The biggger the airport, the dumber and nastiers they are. I was out in OKC and Denver wherey they are some of the nicest people to deal with.

NY, Boston, and O'Hare, they must hire the creatures from the zoos. I shouldn't be so hard on the zoo creatures... It's all about customer service. I look at it this way, they took a job that requires interfacing with the public, therefore they should do it with as much enthusiasm as they should. I spent 20 years in the technical support/customer service role, and being pleasant takes a lot less work than these people think. The other thing is common sense. I wonder if they have any.

John

very likely..

i would love to see a follow up on this story and hope all is well with the pianist.

LaGuardia fake bomber Scott McGann's mom says he's sick and needs help, not crazy
By Henrick Karoliszyn, Kenny Porpora and Samuel Goldsmith
Daily News Writers

Updated Monday, August 3rd 2009, 9:19 AM


Keivom/News

Scott McGann spent a night at Rikers, but went to Bellevue Hospital to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

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The distraught mother of would-be LaGuardia bomber Scott McGann defended her mentally ill son Sunday night.

"He's not a kook," Margie Jones told the Daily News, barely able to speak through her tears.

She said her 32-year-old son suffers from catatonic schizophrenia - a form of the disease that leaves victims in a psychotic state where they're unable to speak, respond or even move.

"I love my son," said Jones, a school psychologist who lives three hours north of San Francisco in Willits, a town of 5,000.

The heartsick mother had planned to see McGann this past weekend after buying him a ticket to fly to California some time before Saturday's airport scare.

Instead,McGann took a phony bomb to LaGuardia that shut it down for several hours and forced the evacuation of thousands of panicked travelers.

A heroic Port Authority cop wrestled McGann to the ground when he noticed wires sticking out of his bag and what appeared to be a detonator in his hand. The bomb turned out to be fake.

McGann spent the night at Rikers Island and was moved Sunday to Bellevue Hospital, where he'll undergo a psychiatric evaluation ahead of a Thursday court appearance.

He is charged with placing a false bomb, placing a false bomb or hazardous substance in a mass transportation facility, and making a terrorist threat.

A computer programmer and artist, McGann was described by friends as a kind and pensive person who peddled his handmade goods in Union Square.

"He was a friendly guy who worked a lot with skateboarders," said William Saar, 50, who sells used books in Union Square.

"He didn't seem like the type of guy to do something like this," Saar said.

Without treatment, schizophrenia can cause delusions, hallucinations and violent outbursts, experts say. Episodes can last anywhere from minutes to years.

Doctors often struggle to keep schizophrenics on their medication, which can be extremely effective when taken regularly. It was unclear if McGann was getting treatment before he snapped Saturday.

Christopher Gause, 20, another artist who sells in Union Square, said McGann made sculptures out of scrap metal.

"There was some spirituality he found in his art," Gause said. "He was very calm, very friendly, and smiled."

Meanwhile, Mayor Bloomberg praised the Port Authority cop who put his "life on the line" to take down McGann.

Even though Saturday's bomb scare turned out to be a hoax, Officer Robert Keane told News columnist Michael Daly he believed it was the real thing.

"They don't have the luxury of second-guessing," the mayor said. "They've got to act decisively and put their lives on the line. He certainly has my admiration."

At LaGuardia on Sunday, things were getting back to normal. The only thing causing delays was the heavy rain.

"It's not going to stop people from traveling," Dallas resident Marty Martinez said of Saturday's scare. "You just hope there's enough security to keep people at bay."With

Terrence Russell, Alison Gendar, Oren Yaniv, Irving DeJohn, Joy Resmovits and Michael Roberts



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_..._he_is_sick_not_crazy.html#ixzz0NdsESBLq

You really can't help but wonder if this 'fake bomb' wasn't really just a piece of sculpture from found objects. The TSA can be so ______________. Insert for yourself.

Though, I once traveled through Germany with a severe post surgical wound and the screener there smacked it hard to make sure I wasn't hiding anything under my bandages. I almost passed out from the pain. I mean, what??? Don't they realize that they have a reputation for cruelty that they might want to, um, live down?

Suffice it so say, the craziness has gone global.

So sad for this guy. I would bet my new piano that it was a complete mistake. Meanwhile, the guys who are real threats are now figuring out how to get their dangerous crap into quart size ziplock bags.

Sigh.

My cousin had an issue with them as well. She's a breast cancer survivor and needs special cream to help her skin because it dries out due to nerve damage, and uses the stuff every hour on the clock. They insisted that she put the stuff in a plastic bag and bury it in her luggage. She refused and then was strip-searched. No appologies or anything for the hard time they gave her after they could tell she was telling the truth.

The people that work for the TSA are a bit scary. I flew out of Manchester last June and one of the TSA guards was an older woman. She barked out orders like the prison matrons do in the movies. I shuddered inside when I saw her. I'd hate to be on the receiving end if I didn't cooperate with her.

John

I have an extremely common married name and I get pulled over for a search every time I travel (and my luggage gets searched coming and going every time )- I think someone else with that name is on their watch list or maybe they think it's an alias. According to my husband it's because I have very long almost black "ethnic" looking hair - - - so far I haven't been manhandled so I've learned to grin and bear it but I still repress a shudder. A part of me thinks eventually they'll make us all fly naked and restrained in our seats with the sort of clamp over the shoulders things they have on carnival rides.

I used to get the same treatment, for about five years (I had taken a lot of one way flights.) No trip would deliver me or my luggage unscathed. It may seem minor, but I am telling you that if pack certain pieces of ladies undergarments wrong, you wreck them. TSA owes me hundreds for destroyed maidenform. Always cheesed me off, esp. since when I get pulled out of line, I do seem to get extra special and intimate pat downs. Thank the lord, no strip searches- John, my heart really goes out to your cousin...

Nowadays, this only happens when I bring my (asian) husband (I am white, but he just looks 'foreign'.) He is from BROOKLYN. Doesn't matter. What's funny is that they pull me when I am with him, but no longer when I am alone. If people think these searches are 'random' they are sorely mistaken. There is profiling going on all day long, but I wonder how effective it is. I am sure your hair isn't doing you any favors, weird but likely true.

Oh well, just pray for peace.

The really funny part - the European part of my family's been in this country since 1637. The hair is Black Irish and Cherokee and I have a Southern accent you could spread on toast.

What a great phrase!

Well, you know, if you are going through security locally, you just sound...NORMAL!

Funny.

Well, if he spent a night in Rikers, that's enough to make anyone crazy! Bloomberg's hero" is probably some over-zealous cop. But maybe our pianist friends needs some meds or $ for treatment.
Dannyfree

Racial profiling rears its ugly head everywhere in the US of A.
Dannyfree

double

FYI on this story: The young man appeared in court and was not arraigned. He was committed toa mental health facility instead. Apparently he suffers from catatonic schizophrenia, by admission of the prosecutors.. Sad..

Poor guy. I hope he gets the help he needs.

I have a friend who packs a rather giant ... type of um, marital aid ... in her luggage on purpose now. She bought it the first time her luggage got opened and the insides wrecked by searchers, and wrote on it in sharpie marker THANK YOU FOR VIOLATING MY CIVIL RIGHTS.

At this point, I pack weird-looking things on top with paper labels attached to them so they can get their mitts on them easily. One time, I was going to Wales for a month, and a friend had asked me to bring with me a metal cheese-sandwich maker for use in a fireplace. The thing looked like a land mine on a poker. I KNOW that got my luggage opened, and I put it on top with a label stuck on it that said THIS IS A TOASTED CHEESE SANDWICH MAKER.

Flying bites. :-(

My niece just came over from Israel, and brought a shofar (a ram's horn modified so one can use it as a trumpet) with her. The Madrid equivalent of TSA seized it, claiming it could be used as a weapon. She protested, to no avail. Then the security people came on board her plane, just before it was to take off, and made her produce all of her documentation all over again, claiming it was a "security matter," presumably because of the fuss she made.