Firstly, two things. 1.) I'm not entirely sure if this is the appropriate forum channel for this, but it seemed to be the most likely. 2.) This is almost entirely non-game related, but only in that it doesn't deal with the game directly.

Swedish Helicopter Raid
More on the raid

Look at this very closely, and tell me that we haven't witnessed the birth of the Shadowrunner. It has all the essential weirdness and awesomeness:

-Helicopter used to gain entry
-Skylight smashed with sledgehammer
-Explosives used to open things
-Police helicopter delayed due to a box with the word "Bomb" written on it (If this isn't a PC-style idea, I don't know what is.)

All done by people whom the police suspect of being "master criminals"

And all this, without elves, magic or cybernetics.

So, was this Pink Mohawk in style or trenchcoat style?

That's still petty job. The real men are the ones who hijacked the Arctic Sea

Two guys also robbed a Magritte today in Brussels. Entered at opening when the museum was empty, theatened the staff with a gun, took the painting and they were gone.

I had the same feeling of deja vu when I read the news this morning, but these aren't really shadowrunners; they're just plain robbers.

Shadowrunners require a somewhat different environment, in which corporations hire robbers to steal away corporate employees and secrets. This petty "cash-stealing" is not what pro shadowrunners go for anyway.

I hold this up as evidence to all the GMs who feel that "threats and acts of violence alone won't get you any big wins." Ignoring, of course, the need for a getaway plan.

Off the top of my head how many of their clients do you think will be receiving sales calls from G4S's competitors the morning after the story broke in the news or maybe looking at alternatives on their own initiative? You just have to be suspicious enough.

As for the whole 'Shadowrunners only do X or Y, never Z' line of thought, I guess that's different for every group that plays.

Show me a trenchcoat style group that leaves a bag with the word "BOMB" in a police hanger to delay lonestar?
Theirs your answere.

I always thought the idea behind a successful shadowrun was to go in, score/wreck/erase/kill/rescue/etc. the paydata/prototype/mark/etc. without anyone ever knowing you were (aside from the dead, but they don't count).

A run wherein there are lots of witnesses that the affected corp/syndicate/party can't influence into silence and keep from talking to the press isn't exactly what I'd call "successful." Sure you nabbed your prototype, but you blew a big hole in the building to get out, killed a handful of pedestrians on the sidewalk when your wheelman lost control of his truck while barreling up to the curb (while being shot at, no less), and there just happened to be a big party right across the street full of people pointing and staring at the whole debacle. Who knows if someone managed to get your mug on camera, you with the smoking grenade launcher resting on your shoulder?

Such an obtuse exit might make for a good news-at-11 tridcast, but it certainly won't do your career any favors, especially if your Johnson values discretion over success.

As every good LA runner knows: just cause they saw you do what you did, doesn't mean they actually know who did it!

You mean something like this? I guess Mr. Johnson could have been more careful about it, but it's still a deniable asset.

Honestly, if they're dumb enough to go on a run and not wear masks when doing hideously illegal stuff then they deserve what they get.