Halton Regional Police are urging any aspiring filmmakers looking to produce their next crime thriller to alert police before breaking out the prop guns.
The warning was prompted by a 911 call in Oakville, Ont., shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday night, in which a witness reported seeing a male victim being held at gunpoint and forced into an apartment on Marlborough Court.
Witnesses also claimed to have seen a hatchet and heard screaming and yelling coming from inside the unit.
Members from the tactical rescue unit responded immediately “due to the nature of the information provided to police” and arrested four men at the scene, where a search turned up a prop handgun and plastic hatchet.
The men explained to police that they were film students and that the weapons and screaming had been part of their movie shoot.
They were all released unconditionally without any charges being laid.
Police say prop guns can be mistaken for genuine firearms by the general public, which they say can lead to very real public safety risks, as officers will respond to any reported incident under the assumption that it’s a real threat.
They’re asking anyone who might be filming a scene that could appear suspicious to the public to notify local authorities before the cameras start rolling.
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