Teen arrested in N.Y. Starbucks bombing

NEW YORK — He was inspired by the reel life character played by Brad Pitt in "Fight Club," but now a New York City teenager is in real trouble — charged with bombing a Manhattan Starbucks as part of a plan to target corporate America, New York City police said Wednesday.

Kyle Shaw, 17, was picked up Tuesday night and charged with arson, criminal mischief and criminal possession of a weapon.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Shaw was driven by his love of "Fight Club," forming a group that brawled in Central Park, then stepping it up a notch, forming "Project Mayhem," a group of anti-social terrorists who want to take down corporate America, even targeting a Starbucks.

In real life, the Starbucks at Third Avenue and East 92nd Street was targeted shortly before dawn on Memorial Day.

No one was hurt, but windows were shattered and one witness saw one or two men running from the scene. One, police said, was Shaw, although it's not clear if he had an accomplice.

Kelly did say, however, that the suspect couldn't keep quiet.

"Shaw told at least one friend before the explosion to 'Watch the news over Memorial Day,' " because he was about to launch 'Project Mayhem'," Kelly said.

Afterward, Kelly said, "Shaw had been bragging to friends that he was responsible for the Starbucks incident."

Kelly said Shaw was trying to emulate the character named Tyler Durden from the 1999 film about a spineless pencil pusher, played by Ed Norton, who takes up with the dangerous yet manly Durden to form a secret "fight club," where men beat one another to a pulp in an attempt to feel more alive.

Shaw formed his own fight club in which boys beat one another in various locales around the city including Central Park, Kelly said. At least one member got a broken nose, he said.