Though the movie hasn’t opened yet, could Mark Millar‘s Kick-Ass 2 have already inspired copycat vigilante antics?  Maybe, maybe not, but in Johnstown, PA, a 19 year-old man named Todd Kapcsos was arrested on July 15th after prowling his neighborhood, dressed in a black ninja suit, carrying a bat and lurking in bushes.  He appeared in court on August 14th where he waived his rights to a preliminary hearing on charges of loitering, prowling at night and disorderly conduct.

Kapcsos told WJACTV “I dressed up in all black, snuck around, went through bushes.  I was practicing some ninja moves rolling into a ball, looking like a rock, just hiding in the shadows.”

A neighbor, Chris Trevino, however reports, “It looked more like he was trying to break into homes, not like he was gonna be a ninja and save the world.”  She reported Kapcsos “running like a ninja, not like a normal person jogging. He was going back and forth creeping.”  After she called the police “The ninja ran across the alley and right into the arms of a police officer.”

Johnstown has seen a spike in violent crimes including three recent homicides.  The most recent, a brutal stabbing death, occurred at a car wash.  Kapcsos went on to tell WJACTV, “I mean there’s not enough police officers, the community should do something rather than sit back.”

You can view the video of the news story here.

Though Kapcsos doesn’t mention ‘Kick-Ass’ the story does bear some resemblance to the story of a non-powered vigilante who attempts to fight crime.  At least Kapcsos wasn’t brutally beaten the way the hero was in the first film!  Perhaps Jim Carrey had reason to worry about the impact the movie would have on watchers.  (Although, as Chloe Grace Moretz countered, “If anything, these movies teach you what not to do.”)

So let this be a lesson.  Leave the ninja suit and the baseball bat at home and maybe organize a community watch program instead.

Source: WJAC