Updated: 5:00 p.m. Friday, Aug. 27, 2004 | Posted: 4:43 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 26, 2004
ORLANDO, Fla. -- A bag of candy shocked a local grandmother and will most likely shock you. The toy inside looks like a plane flying right into the Twin Towers. Now, that toy is off some local store shelves because of our story.
9/11 Toy Photo 1 082604 MORE IMAGES OF TOY It doesn't stop there, though. That grandmother was surprised, again, when she read the numbers imprinted on the toy.
Until Thursday afternoon, the little toys were on sale to kids around Central Florida -- two towers with a jetliner in between that appears to be crashing into one of the buildings. They come in packages along with candy.
Strange News Photos (LEFT) STRANGE PHOTOSView 99 PHOTOS of Strange News We talked to a grandmother who couldn't believe what she'd inadvertently bought for her grandson.
"It makes me angry," Anna Rodriguez says. "I was offended because I couldn't believe that someone would give something like that to a kid."
When Rodriguez let her grandson pick out a bag of toys and candy, she never realized what was inside until her own son noticed the disturbing toy.
"[He said] look at the toy. I said, 'Let me see it,' and when I looked at it I was outraged. I was like, what? No way," Rodriguez says.
Thank you for voicing your opinion in our online survey! 9-11 Toy Do you think the toy's resemblance to the 9-11 terror attacks was intentional? Yes No Not sure She purchased the toy at a local grocery store. We found more packages still hanging on the candy rack. The storeowners were appalled when they saw what a distributor for Lisy Corporation, based in Miami, brought to their store. The store pulled the bags from the shelf Thursday. (Company Defends Itself Over Toy Resembling 9-11 Attacks)
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Sign Up To Receive Our Daily News Of The Strange Email Rodriguez has pictures of the Twin Towers in her living room to remember the victims of 9/11. She says there is no mistake what the toy represents, especially when you look at the product number on every single toy: 9011.
"Everybody knows it's about the twin towers and it's nothing to be joking around about," says Rodriguez. She believes someone out there did it on purpose. "Whoever did this knew what they were doing, they definitely knew."
A company called Lisy Corporation distributes the candy bags. They said they are also offended by the toy and have pulled 17,000 of the toys.
Lisy says they bought the toys, sight unseen, from L and M Import/Export of Miami. We talked to L and M and they say they have no problem at all with the toy and don't consider it offensive at all.
We even pointed out to the import company that every single toy has a stock number on the front that reads "9011." L and M Imports didn't find it all coincidental and said it's just a toy. Asked if they'd talk on camera, they said there is nothing to talk about.