Elon Musk has a hot new product on his hands. 

The Los Angeles entrepreneur, who also leads Tesla and SpaceX, has been advertising flamethrowers sold by his tunnel-boring business Boring Co., and they've sold out in just four days.

Musk said Monday that Boring Co. had pre-sold 10,000 flamethrowers in two days, pulling in $5 million, according to The Los Angeles Times. By Thursday, the company’s website said all 20,000 flamethrowers it was making had been sold.

The white, shotgun-shaped devices were being for $500 each, with $30 fire extinguishers being sold separately as a safety precaution — which Musk admitted was overpriced. However, Musk said Thursday that the flamethrowers would ship with a complementary fire extinguisher.

Musk and the Boring Co. have been using lighthearted, even joking language when talking up the product, leading some people to question its legitimacy. 

"Obviously, a flamethrower is a super terrible idea. Definitely don’t buy one," Musk tweeted Saturday, before adding in a second tweet, "Unless you like fun."

A Boring Co. representative confirmed to NBC that the product is real.

Boring Co. describes the flamethrowers on its website as "guaranteed to liven up any party!" and the "world's safest flamethrower!" A video on the website shows two people demonstrating how to use the devices, shooting out flames about three feet.

Musk posted an Instagram video of himself laughing as he used one of the flamethrowers, which he even turned toward the camera and the person holding it.

The company first indicated that it may sell flamethrowers in December, when it offered company-branded baseball caps and said that if it sold 50,000 of them, flamethrowers would follow. The goal was reached and Musk announced over the weekend that the flame-spitting devices were officially for sale.

To the Twitter-sphere's dismay, Musk tweeted Wednesday that the flamethrowers were sold out.

However, not everyone was as excited as Musk. California Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, told The Los Angeles Times on Monday that he was worried that the sale of the flamethrowers could be a public health hazard, noting that California has already gone through some catastrophic fires.

"It's a bad joke," Santiago told the newspaper.

Boring Co. has not responded to a request for comment on the intended uses of the flamethrower.

California has some restrictions on flamethrowers. State health and safety codes mandate that, to use flamethrowing devices with a range of at least 10 feet, a person must have a permit or be part of a firefighting agency.

A Boring Co. spokesman told The Los Angeles Times the flamethrowers on pre-sale have a range of fewer than 10 feet, meaning no such permits are needed.

Musk founded the Boring Co. in late 2016 in an effort to build underground tunnels that would lessen traffic. It's currently working on a test tunnel in Los Angeles and is planning a tunnel from Baltimore to Washington, D.C., that would be extended to New York City and seeking permits for another tunnel in the Chicago area. The company suggests one use for its tunnels could be another of Musk's futuristic ideas: the Hyperloop transportation system.

Police are investigating the death of a man in Bridgeport as a homicide. 

Officers responded to Price Street at 5:39 p.m. Tuesday after receiving reports that someone had been shot and found 33-year-old Eric Heard lying in the road. He’d been shot in the head. 

Heard, a resident of Price Street, was transported to Bridgeport Hospital, where he died at 6:30 p.m., according to police. 

Officials said the motive for the shooting is unclear. 

Anyone with information should call Detective Heanue at 203-581-5242 or call 203-576-TIPS.

A suspect in the shooting at Krauser’s in East Hartford on Jan. 18 was taken into custody on North Carolina, according to police and the U.S. Marshals Office.

U.S. Marshals took Carlton Depeyster, 26, into custody on Angelica Street in Charlotte, North Carolina at 8:20 p.m. Wednesday.

Depeyster tried to run, but marshals took him into custody after a brief chase.

The U.S. Marshals Service said East Hartford police reached out to them on Tuesday for help to find and arrest Depeyster, who was wanted in connection with the shooting on Jan. 18 at the Krauszer’s convenience store on Main Street. There was information that he was hiding out in North Carolina, according to officials.

They said he was arrested him with 28-year-old Paul Comer, who was wanted in Connecticut on a state Parole Warrant.

Depeyster and Comer will be held, pending extradition from North Carolina.

Interest in the 1981 death of film legend Natalie Wood was reignited Thursday after a report said her husband, actor Robert Wagner, is "more of a person of interest" in Wood’s drowning.

But a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokesperson told NBC News that Wagner, 87, has remained a person of interest and there has not been a change in the status of the case.

A "person of interest" is not the same as a suspect. Wagner has long denied any involvement in Wood's death.

An investigation into Wood's death while on a weekend trip to Catalina Island  was reopened in 2011 after police sought to interview witnesses about claims of foul play, but it was never classified as a criminal case and no one has ever been charged. Wood's death certificate was amended in 2012 from a cause of death of drowning to "drowning and other undetermined factors."

CBS' "48 Hours" plans to air its episode about the case on Saturday.  

Waterford police have arrested a woman they said went door-to-do, using a fake cookie sale to get into people’s houses and steal items. 

Police reached out for assistance from the public in December to identify and said they have arrested a suspect.

Police identified Rebecca Conrad-Mayo as the suspect and she has been charged with second-degree larceny, possession of a controlled substance and second-degree false statement.

Bond was set at $10,000.

Toys R Us announced in January that it planned to close around 180 Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores across the country, including four stores in Connecticut, but two local stores are no longer on the list.

The list of stores that were slated to close was included in court documents that were filed in bankruptcy court in Virginia. 

As of Jan. 30, the Toys R Us at 275 Union St., Waterbury and the Babies R Us at 169 Hale Road in Manchester are no longer on the list, which is subject to change, pending court approval. 

The company plans for store closings to begin in early February, with the majority closing in mid-April.

Following are the stores slated for closure.

Connecticut:

• 376 North Universal Drive, North Haven
• 3491 Berlin Turnpike, Newington

See the full list.

The company plans to revamp several remaining stores by converting them into co-branded Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores. 

CNBC reports that the company needs court approval for the plan. The initial plan included closing around a fifth of its stores across the country. 

President Donald Trump is expected to tell the House Intelligence Committee that he does not object to the release of a classified memo about the Trump-Russia investigation, a senior White House official said Thursday.

NBC News reported the official told reporters aboard Air Force One that the White House had time over the last couple of days to look over the memo "to make sure it doesn’t give away too much in terms of classification."

"Right now, I think it will be that we tell the Congress, probably tomorrow, that the president is okay with it," the official added, noting that the ultimate public disclosure of the memo is in the hands of Congress.

There have been 20 more deaths associated with the flu reported in Connecticut, the state Department of Public Health (DPH) said in its weekly report. 

There have been 52 deaths attributed to the flu since Aug. 27, 2017, to Jan. 27, 2018. Between the same time period, a total of 1,154 patients have been hospitalized because of the flu. 

Of the deaths so far reported, 44 were patients over the age of 65, four were between 50 and 64 years old, three were between 52 and 49 years old and one child was between 5 and 17 years old. 

Flu activity in the state remains high and widespread and officials encourage residents to get a flu shot. Officials warn that peak flu season could still be several weeks away.

"With the peak of flu season potentially still several weeks away, it is still not too late to get a flu shot," DPH Commissioner Dr. Raul Pino said. "However, it takes two weeks from the time of the shot to develop the antibodies needed to fight the flu, so I urge anyone who has not received a flu shot to do it as soon as possible in order to be fully protected for the remainder of this season."

There have been at least nine overdoses in the New Haven area within the last six hours, New Haven Emergency Operations Deputy Director Rick Fontana said.

Fontana said seven of the overdoses were K2 related and the other two were from heroin. 

Last week, New Haven issued a public health alert after four people overdosed within an hour in the city. 

However, Fontana said the people that overdosed on Thursday displayed erratic behavior while the four individuals last week were found unconscious and in cardiac arrest. 

The city hasn't issued a public health emergency but crews are in "high alert," Fontana said. 

The majority of Americans who tuned in or followed news coverage of President Donald Trump's State of the Union address Tuesday night thought the president hit the right notes, according to the results of an NBC News/Survey Monkey poll released Thursday.

Four in 10 people surveyed watched Trump's address, which drew in roughly 45 million viewers. Twenty-nine percent didn't watch the speech but followed news coverage, and 30 percent did not watch the speech or follow news coverage.

Of the 69 percent of Americans who watched the speech or followed the coverage, the majority — 60 percent — said Trump mostly focused on the right things. However, roughly four in 10 people surveyed, or 38 percent, said Trump mostly focused on the wrong things. His speech — subdued in tone but featuring several of his more polarizing policy proposals — centered on immigration, infrastructure and economic progress under his watch, among other topics.

Among those who said they watched or followed coverage of the address, 35 percent were enthusiastic about his address, and 21 percent were satisfied but not enthusiastic. Yet, 26 percent were dissatisfied but not angry and 16 percent were downright angry.

Paul Ryan assures the House Intelligence Committee memo is not an inditement of the justice system, and Mitch McConnell suggests a vote on immigration next week. thanks! video is good

Fidel Castro's eldest son has died by suicide after undergoing months of care due to a deep depression, according to Cuban official state media.

Fidel "Fidelito" Ángel Castro Díaz–Balart died Thursday, Granma reported.

He was hospitalized at first while undergoing treatment before being released for outpatient care, Granma added.

At the time of his death, he was serving the regime as a scientific adviser to Cuba's Council of the State and as vice president of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba.

Castro Díaz–Balart was an "author and editor of several books of great strategic importance in matters of progress and trends of contemporary science," according to the Academy of Sciences of Cuba.

"He has taught many presentations, lectures and has represented Cuba in events, scientific and high-level authorities meetings for Science and Technology in several countries, UNESCO, TWAS," the academy wrote on its website, adding he was an expert in nuclear physics.

Fidel Castro, the father of communist Cuba who led the country for nearly half a century, died Nov. 25, 2016.

Two months after USA Gymnastics was alerted that team doctor Larry Nassar might be molesting its star athletes, the organization notified the head of security for the U.S. Olympic Committee of the breadth of the brewing scandal, NBC News reported.

"USA Gymnastics has recently been made aware of potential sexual misconduct committed against one or more of its national team athletes by a member of its medical staff," it wrote in a summary of the situation emailed to Olympic Committee chief security officer Larry Buendorf in September 2015.

"Such misconduct allegedly occurred at international competitions held overseas and various locations in the United States," it continued.

The summary, which was described to NBC News by a source familiar with it, went on to recount interviews that private investigators did with three elite gymnasts who have since been identified as national team member Maggie Nichols and Olympic gold-medalists Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney.

A draft of the Trump Administration’s plans on infrastructure spending could prove to seriously hinder Connecticut’s ability to finance road projects and make widescale improvements.

In the past, the program has worked as a federal matching system where states would be responsible for providing 20 percent of the funding for an interstate, bridge, or mass transit project. The Trump Administration is considering reversing that formula.

Connecticut’s U.S. senators said such a program would lead to more expensive highways with potentially privately held tolls, meaning Connecticut drivers would be the ones paying for road improvements.

"The evil in the president's proposal is not the idea of a public-private partnership, it is the sale of critical public assets to private enterprise that can profiteer and hold the public at its mercy," Sen. Richard Blumenthal said.

The program would also call for more private financing of projects, reducing the overall commitment by the federal government. Such programs could lead states to have to cede control of their roads to private companies and bondholders, who would have the final say on how projects are completed, Blumenthal said.

"The president is proposing in effect the biggest fire sale of federal assets in our nation's history. He would sell off roads, bridges, and other infrastructure and enable the highest bidder to charge tolls," Blumenthal said. 

Connecticut is considering ways of its own to fund infrastructure projects. Governor Dannel Malloy announced his plan on Wednesday to install tolls on Connecticut interstates and state highways, charge a higher state gas tax and charge a new tax on tire purchases.

Sen. Chris Murphy has advocated for an increase in the federal gas tax as a way to fund transportation projects, as has the U.S. Chamber of Commerce which works on behalf of businesses in the United States.

Murphy said the Trump plan that has made the rounds in the media would do nothing to help state like Connecticut make life easier for businesses and commuters who use the roads every day.

"The future salvation of Connecticut's economy lies i our ability to be able to turn back on the arteries to New York and Boston that are too often closed today," Murphy said.

Ferocious flames burned through the Willimantic Waste Paper Co. on Sunday, but the DeVivo family, who owns the company, said the plan is to rebuild.

"My father and my uncle own the business. I’ve watched them grow this facility to what it is, or what it was, and I plan to watch them rebuild," Ben DeVivo, office manager at Willimantic Waste Paper Co., said.

DeVivo is a fourth generation family member with the company and said despite the fire, the company never skipped a beat. They spent the night setting up computers and workstations to keep it business as usual from a different site Monday morning.

Staff said all of it was possible because of first responders and an army of community support both locally and in surrounding towns, mentioning Providence Canteen, a group that helped feed first responders.

"From Staples, they were helping us out with office supplies, to local pizza parlors and everybody," DeVivo added.

"If you want to help the company, help the people who helped us. Get out and help the community," Mark DiMauro, who does safety and compliance for the company, said.

The nearly 100 employees who worked at the 1590 W. Main Street site still have jobs. Office staff moved to another location in town that the company already owned. Other employees are spread throughout Willimantic, Canterbury and Montville.

DiMauro said on Sunday he saw the smoke from his church in Lebanon.

"I was brought to tears as I was coming here to help. It’s heartbreaking," DiMauro said. "It’s devastating. Especially such a good family, such good people and everything that they do for the community."

DeVivo, DiMauro, town officials and Sen. Richard Blumenthal took a look at the rubble on Thursday.

DeVivo said they were allowed into the building on Thursday morning and equipment is damaged.

Windham Town Manager Jim Rivers said the cause of the fire has been classified as "undetermined," but there could be other information that comes forward that could change that.

The fire cost the town approximately $50,000 in extra costs, including overtime and fuel, according to Rivers. He’s still getting cost reports from other town departments.

DiMauro said the Willimantic site was the company’s biggest dump spot for hundreds of trucks. Now the biggest question is where to send trucks to dump.

"We’ll be back, we’ll be up and running. We’re not going to let this stop us," he said.

The company will need time to make that happen.

A security guard at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum and two others are accused of smuggling 50 guns into New York City by bus and storing them inside the Equinox gym where one of the suspects worked, according to law enforcement sources.

Sources said the security guard, 29-year-old Maquan Moore, and Morris Wilson of Florida were both arrested Thursday night after the third of three deals with undercover NYPD officers and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive agents. The third suspect, an employee at the Greenwich Avenue Equinox, is still at large.

Sources said that Wilson, of Orlando, brought the guns to the city by bus beginning in October. Then, Moore allegedly took the guns to the Equinox, where the third suspect stored them for short periods leading up to gun sales. 

The undercover cops and agents set up three buys from the men, according to sources. When they met the trio, sources said the agents purchased the guns outside the gym just blocks away from a school. 

Among the guns purchased were several 9-millimeter handguns, a Kahr .380 pistol and an AM-15 semiautomatic rifle. 

Charges for the Moore and Wilson weren't immediately available. Federal prosecutors are expected to reveal more information on the case on Friday. 

News 4 has reached out to Equinox and Sept. 11 Museum and Memorial seeking comment. 

Part of a tree came down across Old Stafford Road near Slater Road in Tolland on Friday morning.

The tree appeared to be hanging on power lines.

Police were not yet on the scene. It was not clear if the road would be closed.

Tolland County Dispatch said they had received several calls regarding problems due to the early morning snow.

With the Super Bowl approaching, the nation is almost evenly divided on whether to encourage a child to play a sport other than football over concussion fears, NBC News reported.

Forty-eight percent of people said they would encourage a child who wanted to play football to look to other sports, including 53 percent of mothers, according to the latest national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Four years ago, only 40 percent of Americans felt that way.

But 49 percent of people would not encourage the child to play another sport.

The poll also shows that fewer people are following professional football closely, with the biggest decline coming from demographics that have made up key parts of President Donald Trump's base.

For the first time, a Dallas SWAT officer is talking publicly about the life-or-death firefight with the man who killed five police officers in the July 7, 2016, ambush.

Matt Banes was among the SWAT members who responded to the "officer down" call.

He says he was working a high-crime beat about two miles away from El Centro College when he rushed to the scene, ending up at El Centro, where the shooter, Micah Johnson, was hiding.

"There was gun smoke. You could smell it and see the smoke in the air," Banes recalled.

Banes says he followed Johnson's blood trail to the second floor of the college.

"He probably fired 17 rounds at us, and that's when I realized how close he was to us," Banes said.

He says Johnson was about 30 feet away down a hallway.

Banes took cover around a corner.

"When I did the reload, he says, 'Man, I love that sound,'" Banes recalled.

The 30 minutes that followed, he says, still seem surreal.

Between gunfire, Banes says Johnson quoted scriptures, sang the song "Proud Mary," and even cracked jokes.

"He was so committed to death and at the same time he seemed like he was, seemed like he might have been someone you can sit down and have a beer with," Banes said.

Banes said the longer they talked, he realized how skilled and heavily armed Johnson was. He knew the standoff was not going to end peacefully.

"I asked him, 'Are you police? Are you an officer?' And he says, 'Hell no, I'm not a cop. How many of you pigs have I killed?'" Banes explained.

Banes told him "none," but it was a lie. He knew officers had already been killed.

"You know I wasn't going to give him any sort of satisfaction, so I told him I don't think you've got any of us, but he knew better than that," Banes said.

Through it all, Banes says he never lost sight of the objective: ending the standoff.

He even offered Johnson water and help from a doctor.

"He refused. He said, 'No, this ends in death,'" Banes said.

Banes says Johnson asked for a cell phone.

Instead, police sent in a robot with a bomb hidden inside a book.

When the bomb went off, "My reaction was just relief, victory, some things I can't say on camera for sure," Banes said.

Because of that night, Banes says he left the SWAT unit.

He now trains narcotics officers for the Dallas Police Department.

He was awarded the Medal of Honor by the Dallas Police Department, one of 14 officers to receive the prestigious award.

Prior to the ambush, just 28 officers had received the award since it was established in 1952.

Banes says he waited to talk publicly about the night of the ambush because the investigation was ongoing.

On Wednesday, it was announced that a grand jury cleared police of any wrongdoing.

Three members of a George Washington University sorority are having their memberships terminated after a picture showing a racist message circulated on social media.

The photo appears to show two Alpha Phi sorority members. One is holding up a banana peel and the caption reads: “[Name]: ‘I’m 1/16 black.'”

The sorority said the picture was posted by one of its members and contained two other members. 

The chapter posted an apology on its Facebook page Friday morning. 

"We recognize that there are issues within our organization relating to our privilege and lack of diversity, and we are committed to listening to the voices of those who have been harmed by the actions of those individuals and by our actions as a chapter," the statement read. 

The sorority says the members in question are in the process of having their memberships terminated. 

The GW Hatchet first reported the photo after students took to social media to call on university leaders to respond.

Imani Ross, a senator for the school's Student Association, tweeted the photo in question Wednesday night and noted the start of Black History Month.

The school responded to her tweet, saying it would "look into it."

"University administrators have begun the process of investigating and handling the matter," Ross told News4.

She said students in the multicultural community planned to hold a meeting at 8 p.m. Thursday to "discuss further actions regarding issues related to diversity and inclusion."

"This incident is deeply troubling, especially after Alpha Phi recently attended a diversity training on campus this past month,” Ross said.

George Washington University Provost Forrest Maltzman said since the report, there has been an active dialogue with the national headquarters of Alpha Phi and students on campus who have been affected. 

"There was an entirely inappropriate posting on social media last night. Whatever the circumstance, or true intention of those involved, the image was disturbing, hurtful and not reflective of who I know we are as a community," Maltzman said in a statement.

"Unfortunately, racially charged incidents including bananas and Black students continue to arise at college campuses across the country," the GW Black Student Union said in an Instagram post.

New4 has reached out to Alpha Phi International for comment but has not yet heard back.