RIP John

When I came upon the article entitled, John the Toilet Shot, Laid to Rest, I was confused. There was a person on a toilet who was shot? However, when once reading the article I came to understand that "John" is literally "the john" or most recognizably the toilet. At a Carl's Jr. in Centerville, Utah  a patrons gun unloaded as he was pulling up his pants from his time on the toilet. The bullet hit John "a porcelain commode". The article however does not clarify immediately that John is not actually a real person. By capitalizing the J in john the author makes it seem that it is actually a real person.

The article goes farther when he says that John was "gunned down in an accidental shooting at a fast food restaurant's bathroom." Moreover, he says "his age was not immediately known." By describing the toilet as a person with the word "his" rather than using "it", I assumed that a person really was shot while using the toilet at a Carl's Jr. 

In addition to personifying the toilet, the employees at Carl's Jr. had a life like memorial service for John that included flowers and the first 50 patrons that entered the restaurant received bottle of John's favorite toilet bowl cleaner, "Kaboom Bowl Blaster."

Although a clever marketing ploy for the restaurant, the Associated Press should have done a better job of clarifying that John was not actually a real person. They could have easily accomplished this by using a picture of a shattered toilet. Likewise, by not personifying "John" so much.