originally published at: http://www.petaluma360.com/article/20091221/COMMUNITY/912219996/1362/COMMUNITY01?Title=Petaluma-teens-with-toy-guns-trigger-robbery-fears
Petaluma teens with toy guns trigger robbery fears
By PAUL PAYNE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Published: Monday, December 21, 2009 at 3:00 a.m.
Petaluma teenagers playing with air-soft guns Saturday night prompted an emergency police response after neighbors reported someone was being robbed at gunpoint outside of their homes, police said.
At least eight patrol cars responded to Alhambra Court just before midnight, only to discover that the neighbors had mistaken the teens’ game as a holdup, Police Lt. Matt Stapleton said. Air-soft guns fire non-lethal, plastic pellets.
“The witnesses saw it as a real crime in progress,” Stapleton said.
During the investigation, Christian Vaughn, 49, father of one of the youths, was arrested on suspicion of possession of a switchblade knife, Stapleton said.
The teens were cited playing with the guns, which is a municipal code violation, he said.
He didn’t know if the guns, which look real but have orange tips, were confiscated.