The Blotter: Strikeout 

Loose Lips With students speaking out against gun violence like never before, it was not a good time for a South Mecklenburg High School student to bring a gun on campus during baseball practice last week. The student said he forgot that the gun was in his car, and his real mistake was apparently telling people it was there, because officers responding to an anonymous tip pulled him from the field and searched his vehicle, seized his Smith & Wesson nine millimeter and arrested him for possession of a firearm on school property.

Unplugged Scam me once, shame on you. Scam me twice, shame on me. A man living in the Freedom Park area was conned twice by a stranger whom he tried to hire off the internet to do some electric work at his house. The victim told police that he found the would-be electrician on Thumbtack.com and hired him to see if anything was wrong with his electrical outlets. He paid the man $200 upfront, but he never showed up, so the victim did what any sane person would do and paid him another $200. According to the report, it was only after paying the suspect twice that the victim realized he had been defrauded.

Pop a Radiator Cap We've all had bad days at work, but rarely do any of us have to deal with a gun being pulled on us when we have disagreements with coworkers or customers. That's exactly what happened to an employee at Advance Auto Parts on North Tryon Street last week. The 23-year-old employee told police he got into an argument with the suspect over auto parts (what else?) and the suspect "became aggravated and pointed a gun" at him, according to the report. The suspect was arrested on the scene and police took his loaded handgun and holster.

Color Explosion A woman woke up to a newly painted driveway at her south Charlotte home, and it was not painted well. The woman called police and reported that at some point overnight, some unknown suspects poured pink, blue and green paint all over her driveway. The artistic vandals weren't done, however, as they also poured orange paint on the bumper of her gray Hyundai Sonata.

Fiery Style Kids can be mean to each other, but one student at Harding High School in west Charlotte took things to another level last week and ended up in trouble with the law for it. According to the report, the suspect lit one of their fellow students' hair on fire. The victim, a 16-year-old girl, suffered minor pattern burns to her scalp but was not treated by Medic or hospitalized.

Captain Obvious Police are often forced to state the obvious in criminal reports, such as when they include in most armed robbery reports that the suspect "did not have permission" to take whatever items were stolen at gunpoint, and such was the case in an odd report about an assault that led to a car accident in Plaza Midwood last week. The officer reported that police responded to an assault call at the intersection of Central Avenue and The Plaza to find a 34-year-old man who told them he had been bitten by the suspect, but you won't believe the weapon that was used. According to the report, "The listed victim stated that he was bit (with the suspect's teeth) by the listed suspect, on his right forearm, before a vehicle wreck." Well that clears that up.

Poke on the Back The line between a poking and a stabbing can be slight, but it can also mean the difference between whether or not a crime actually occurred. Such was the case in the Fourth Ward area of Uptown last week, when police responded to an assault call and found a 35-year-old man who claimed to have been prodded against his will. The man told police that "the suspect 'poked' him on the back with an unknown knife during an argument" the two were having on West 10th Street, according to the report. The man did not have any visible signs of injury, however, and several witnesses told police that no assault took place. Police later determined that no crime had occurred.

Above and Beyond A thief in southeast Charlotte was overdoing it last week when they took drastic measures to break into someone's car for not much of a return. A 26-year-old woman told officers she went out to her Chevy Malibu one morning last week and found that someone had broken not one but two windows to gain access to the vehicle, and all they stole was a single dollar bill she had inside.

Where's the Love Some person with apparent Hulk-like strength took out their frustrations on a tennis court in south Charlotte last week. Police responded to the Reavencrest clubhouse after an HOA member there found that someone tore apart the tennis court nets — which would mean somehow tearing through the metal cables inside the net — and then dislodged multiple posts that were cemented into the ground.

Can't Help Ya A woman thought her bank was being helpful when she lost her debit card last week, only to find quite the opposite had occurred. The woman reported to police that she had misplaced the card, but then got a call from her bank saying that someone had found it and turned it into them. When she went to retrieve it, she was told she couldn't because "everyone was in a meeting." She then cancelled the card and ordered a new one, but not before finding out that someone had used the lost card to get money out of several ATMs and to place orders at 7-Eleven, Walmart, Harris Teeter, Food Lion and CookOut.

All stories are pulled from police reports at CMPD headquarters. Suspects are innocent until proven guilty.