AUGUSTA — A toy gun prompted a scare at Mill Park that drew an armed response from local police Tuesday, officials said.
Augusta police responded to the park around 4:42 p.m. after a caller reported at least one person appearing to threaten others with a handgun.
“As officers were trying to investigate, the vehicle the people may have arrived in was leaving, so they stopped the vehicle,” Staff Sgt. Eric Lloyd said. “At this point, they were not able to determine whether the gun was real or not.”
Lloyd said officers followed protocol and assumed the people were armed. They performed a felony traffic stop, which is considered a high-risk stop that requires at least two officers.
Police found a water gun that “looked really similar to a Glock,” Lloyd said, referring to a type of semiautomatic pistol. He declined to release a photo of the toy, saying it is considered investigatory information.
The people involved in the incident were allowed to leave and have not been charged with a crime, Lloyd said. He said more than one person was involved and they were all over 18 years old, but would not provide additional details.
Similar scares have happened in other states recently, including in Massachusetts, where police recently issued a warning about water guns that appear to be real firearms after a caller reported a man coming out of the woods toward an area with dozens of children with what appeared to be a gun.
It turned out to be a teen playing “Senior Assassin” — a man-hunt style game in which people “tag” each other with water guns. The device was shaped like a pistol and was black and white in color.
Lloyd said Tuesday’s incident was the Augusta department’s first run-in with a handgun-style water gun in the city.
“It obviously causes concern,” he said, “because to somebody out there it appeared to be a real threat, real enough to cause danger.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
