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German dog-walker has close call with coconut cannon

Mar 15, 2017 | 4:15 PM

BERLIN — A dog walker in the German capital can be thankful he turned out to be a fruitless target after his close call with a coconut cannon.

The man was walking in an industrial area on March 1 when he heard a bang and a ball-shaped projectile flew past him, hitting a nearby lamppost.

Berlin police say officers called to the scene were surprised to find a large homemade cannon capable of shooting coconuts at high speeds with compressed air.

A 23-year-old man told officers he had helped to build the cannon for an art project in the Antarctic and wanted to test it before it was shipped.