Minnesota Burger King staff tricked into smashing windows of restaurants in spate of prank calls

The Burger King in the Minneapolis suburb of Coon Rapids as the windows were being smashed

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A US prankster convinced Burger King staff to smash the windows of the restaurant where they worked in a bid to 'relieve pressure' that could lead to the building 'exploding'. In the latest incident in a spate of similar calls across the US, workers at a Minnesota Burger King smashed the windows of the restaurant causing thousands in damages.

Similar deceptions at other fast-food restaurants have occurred in Arizona, California and Oklahoma. Officers say that the restaurant, in the Minneapolis suburb of Coon Rapids, received a call on 8 April by someone claiming to be from the fire brigade.

They told staff the restaurant was in danger of exploding unless they relieve pressure inside the building. The manager believed the call and decided to smash the windows with one of the employees said to have suffered a minor cut during the incident.

"Officers arrived and found that the manager and employees of the Burger King were smashing out the windows," Sgt Rick Boone told the Minneapolis Star Tribune as they began an investigation to identify the caller.

"The manager explained they'd received a phone call from a male who identified himself as a fireman who said there were dangerous levels of gas in the building and they had to break out all the windows to keep the building from blowing up."

On 7 April a Burger King in Shawnee, Oklahoma, received a call saying that high levels of carbon monoxide were found in the building. Staff smashed the windows, causing damages estimated at $10,000 (£7,000).

"It is a little upsetting that they would try to give the fire department a black eye," Thomas Larman of the Shawnee Fire Department told the station KFOR. "We would never do anything like that. We're here to serve the public, protect the public."

In February a Burger King in Morro Bay, California, another reported gas leak telephone call resulted in $35,000 (£24.5k) worth of damages. Other similar incidents took place in Tucson and Phoenix in Arizona in January.