Real cops picked up a fake tough guy in Brooklyn dressed in tactical gear and brandishing a pellet gun that looked too much like a genuine firearm, sources said.
The suspect, in his 20s, was spotted on the roof of a building on Rogers Avenue in Prospect Heights at 11:15 a.m. on March 3, toting what appeared to be an automatic weapon.
When police from the 77th Precinct arrived, they spotted the young man, wearing a tactical vest, gun belt, tactical knee padded pants holding what appeared to be a large automatic weapon.
Heavily-armed NYPD Emergency Service cops immediately went to nearby roofs and surrounded the man, training their weapons on him.
Police say the suspect was ordered to drop the gun, and he immediately dropped it to the ground. The suspect began putting the gun belt and tactical gear into a cardboard box sitting next to him on the roof.
ESU cops then entered the roof and took him into custody. The weapon was recovered and determined to be a pellet gun.
In addition to the fake long gun, the suspect also had what appeared to be a handgun that looked like a 9mm pistol, but was also a BB gun, police said.
The suspect wore a Charlotte, North Carolina t-shirt as he was led out of the building by precinct officers.
Police were questioning the man as to why he was on the roof.
Traffic on Rogers and Bedford Avenues was snarled for nearly an hour until the situation was deemed safe.
David Harrell, a member of the Washington Church that has offices in the same building, said he was shocked to see how many police were on the street.
“I couldn’t get through – traffic was blocked and they wouldn’t let me though,” Harrell said as he watched cops pack heavily armored vehicles. “I thought it was something more serious than a guy with a bb-gun, They said it was a sniper. They have to protect the people in the neighborhood from that kind of thing and the way things are going nowadays, you never know. The guy could’ve been on a suicide missions or something.”
