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Air Rifle Scare Causes Major Stir in Historic Core
Youths Were Suspected of Wielding Firearms on Roof
by Ryan Vaillancourt, Staff Writer
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES – Multiple 911 calls yesterday brought swarms of police to the Huntington Hotel on Monday afternoon, as three young men were seen wielding what appeared to be firearms on the roof at about 4 p.m.
The men, whose names and ages were not released, actually had pellet guns. Nobody was arrested, said Lt. Paul Vernon, but the scare nearly led to a real shooting before it was determined that the suspects only had pellet guns.
“As officers approached the entrance of the building, one of the detainees leaned over the roof with one of those air guns meant to look like a tec-9 [semiautomatic submachine gun] to look at them,” Vernon said. “Lucky for him, he did not point that at the officers. Had that gun muzzle dropped toward the officers, he would have been shot.”
The men involved were not charged with any crime, as the pellet guns are legal to possess, Vernon said.
“Technically it did not qualify as a crime,” he said. “It did qualify as felony stupid.”
The entire incident was over in about 45 minutes.
Contact Ryan Vaillancourt at ryan@downtownnews.com.
©Los Angeles Downtown News. Reprinting items retrieved from the archives are for personal use only. They may not be reproduced or retransmitted without permission of the Los Angeles Downtown News. If you would like to re-distribute anything from the Los Angeles Downtown News Archives, please call our permissions department at (213) 481-1448.
The men, whose names and ages were not released, actually had pellet guns. Nobody was arrested, said Lt. Paul Vernon, but the scare nearly led to a real shooting before it was determined that the suspects only had pellet guns.
“As officers approached the entrance of the building, one of the detainees leaned over the roof with one of those air guns meant to look like a tec-9 [semiautomatic submachine gun] to look at them,” Vernon said. “Lucky for him, he did not point that at the officers. Had that gun muzzle dropped toward the officers, he would have been shot.”
The men involved were not charged with any crime, as the pellet guns are legal to possess, Vernon said.
“Technically it did not qualify as a crime,” he said. “It did qualify as felony stupid.”
The entire incident was over in about 45 minutes.
Contact Ryan Vaillancourt at ryan@downtownnews.com.
©Los Angeles Downtown News. Reprinting items retrieved from the archives are for personal use only. They may not be reproduced or retransmitted without permission of the Los Angeles Downtown News. If you would like to re-distribute anything from the Los Angeles Downtown News Archives, please call our permissions department at (213) 481-1448.
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