Florida police warned people to not shoot weapons at Hurricane Irma in response to a social media event encouraging people to do just that.
OK, it was a semi-serious warning.
"To clarify, DO NOT shoot weapons @ #Irma. You won’t make it turn around & it will have very dangerous side effects," the Pasco Sheriff's office tweeted late Saturday.
The tweet was published along with a Yahoo article containing a graphic of a hurricane system, showing its swirling motion with the words "bullets come back don't shoot."
The facetious tweet from the Sheriff's office was prompted by a Facebook event titled "Shoot at Hurricane Irma," that over 25,000 people RSVP'd to.
"Let’s show Irma that we shoot first," the event description says.
The tweet received positive feedback in the midst of an otherwise grim situation, with many thanking the Pasco Sheriff’s office for bringing a glimmer of humor as Irma heads toward South Florida. One Twitter user even offered a counter event: singing Smash Mouth's hit "All Star" to hopefully turn the storm away.
Building off the tongue-and-cheek of their "don't shoot" tweet, the Pasco Sheriff's office took a more serious tone on urging Twitter users to instead volunteer their time at evacuation shelters.
They responded to tweets baffled by their humor saying the account reached over 1 million people yesterday, likely due to their attention-grabbing tweets. The accound has been retweeted by Seth Rogen, William Shatner, Jake Tapper and Sen. Ted Cruz.
Irma changed paths Saturday night, heading on a new track that could expose St. Petersburg to a direct hit, instead of Miami or Tampa. In one of the biggest evacuations ever ordered in the U.S., about 6.4 million people in Florida were warned to leave.