I certainly can't think of a similar example in the Beetle's history. Even the often-denigrated (but not nearly so bad) Charlton scarab-based run isn't this outlandish. And it's not just the story. You can add in the weird "world's tallest building" in "a city," but passing by the RCA Building (which most of you would recognize today as the GE Building, also known as "30 Rock"), which would seem to make the location fairly obvious.
The only comparable event I can think of is in the 1954 Charlton issues. In one of those stories, Dan creates a gust of wind to make things happen.
(The gunshot issue in the previous story, I'm more likely to ignore, because the armor wasn't a major issue in more than a few stories, and I can see a writer overlooking it. But it's also admittedly a bit peculiar. Ooh! Maybe it's the ghost of the clone!!)