In Kansas City, police fired upon an alligator lurking near a pond. Turns out, the alligator was a concrete lawn ornament partially obscured by weeds. The owner of the property said that the decoration was meant to scare people off his property. From AOL:
A resident of a subdivision near the pond called police Saturday evening to report that his children spotted the alligator while they were playing in some nearby woods.
After consulting a conservation agent, who told them to kill the gator if they felt it posed a danger, one of the officers shot it twice in the head before realizing something was up, said Tom Gentry, an Independence police spokesman.
“Kansas Police Open Fire At Lawn Ornament, Mistaking It For An Alligator“