This headline isn't a joke — metal has been stigmatized once again. Death metal group Torn the Fuck Apart were sitting in their van in a Walmart parking lot near Chicago, and someone called the police because they found it suspicious. Good grief.

According to MetalSucks, TTFA were wrapping up their tour with Atoll and Mortal Torment near Chicago when they decided to park in a Walmart lot to relax. A little while later, the van was surrounded by police. The band knew the officers had just been doing their jobs — especially because Walmart is pretty infamous for sketchy occurrences — but they were upset to have been profiled as dangerous for doing absolutely nothing.

Frontman Michael Langner provided a statement to MetalSucks regarding the experience.

In the morning we had stopped and parked in the back of the Walmart parking lot in forest park, IL to stretch out and grab a few things after a night off of tour and enjoying the Chicago Domination Fest. We had been there for about an hour as our drummer was inside the store getting a few things, and about 15 mins after he went in we heard radio dispatch from behind the van and noticed a cop car pull up behind us. Just as quickly we saw three more pull up and surround us.


After a few minutes of answering questions, the cop said that they were there because they had received multiple calls about a dark van with “suspicious characters ” in it. After all IDs were checked they knew that wasn’t the case. The cops were very professional and respectful to us after they realized we were no threat to anyone, and they even took pictures with us as though we were under arrest, and played along with us to tell our drummer we had warrants and were under arrest when he came back to the van.


We don’t blame the cops for doing their jobs; they handled it well. But it was upsetting that we had been profiled for the way a “metalhead” looks. This isn’t something we haven’t encountered before and life goes on. Now we get ready for our last show of the tour Saturday at the Chicago Domination Fest.

When the police realized there was nothing suspicious about the band whatsoever, they even staged an arrest with Langner for a photo, which can be seen above.

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