william_brasky
3/23/2006, 06:56 AM
Police cordoned off downtown streets for nearly two hours and SWAT teams searched buildings Wednesday for a possible sniper with a rifle, but it turned out to be a man with a pellet gun that he used to shoot pigeons.
Police Chief Dom Costa said charges were being considered because it is illegal to shoot a pellet gun in the city.
While it may be legal to carry a pellet gun, he said, "there's not a lot of common sense to it."
A caller to 911 reported seeing a man dressed partly in camouflage and carrying what appeared to be a rifle equipped with a telescopic or laser gunsight, police at the scene said.
Mayor Bob O'Connor, wearing a bulletproof vest, called the man a "presumed sniper."
Several roads and bridges leading into the city were closed, city buses were rerouted, and students at nearby schools were kept inside.
However, after focusing on a building in the city's theater district, police said they had located the man's supervisor, who said the man sometimes takes his pellet gun to work to shoot pigeons. Police did not release the man's name or say what his job is.
Police Chief Dom Costa said charges were being considered because it is illegal to shoot a pellet gun in the city.
While it may be legal to carry a pellet gun, he said, "there's not a lot of common sense to it."
A caller to 911 reported seeing a man dressed partly in camouflage and carrying what appeared to be a rifle equipped with a telescopic or laser gunsight, police at the scene said.
Mayor Bob O'Connor, wearing a bulletproof vest, called the man a "presumed sniper."
Several roads and bridges leading into the city were closed, city buses were rerouted, and students at nearby schools were kept inside.
However, after focusing on a building in the city's theater district, police said they had located the man's supervisor, who said the man sometimes takes his pellet gun to work to shoot pigeons. Police did not release the man's name or say what his job is.