Armed police swoop on man with ray gun

Machine gun-toting police swooped on a quiet residential street - after a man pointed a toy gun at a baby. Armed officers rushed to Coleridge Street, Hove, after the baby’s mother told police someone had pointed a firearm at her child in a pram and said “Pow pow.”

They scoured nearby streets before arresting a suspect sitting at a bus stop outside the Co-op in Portland Road. He was last night being held on suspicion of possession of an imitation firearm, as police warned they could have shot him if they had not been certain the item was only a toy.

Witnesses described how armed officers surrounded the man, thought to be in his 50s, at around 12.30pm yesterday. One local business owner, who did not want to be named, said: “There were armed police all over the place. A Land Rover pulled up and three detectives got out and then three Ford Focus estates turned up with more police in them.



“They all had machine-guns and pistols. They were pointing them at the man as he was standing at the bus stop outside the Co-op. They ordered him to put the gun down and arrested him and handcuffed him. They kept him there for a little while and then took him off in a Ford Focus. He had one of those silly children’s ray guns. It doesn't do anything it just makes silly little noises.”

Tony Roberts, who runs a second hand furniture shop in Portland Road said: ”I know the police have got to take these things seriously but they must have thought they had caught a space invader with a ray gun They must be feeling pretty embarrassed.”

Ch Supt Bartlett said: “Members of the public were extremely perturbed by this incident and feared for their own safety. They thought it was a genuine firearm and although it was quickly established that it was a toy, sometimes they can appear quite realistic.