According to Greensburg Police Department Chief Brian Heaton, an alarming new fad has emerged in the city: Teenagers carrying fake guns in their vehicles and brandishing them in public.

“It’s a new fad, and it’s unacceptable. We cannot tolerate these types of toy guns in their cars,” Heaton said.

Earlier this month, the GPD received a report of a youth loitering in the parking lot of the Arby’s restaurant on Lincoln Street. It was a Saturday afternoon and the teenagers were hanging out on the popular strip, but their behavior could have easily went from comedy to tragedy. Heaton noted those who called in to report the scene did not know what was going on but did say the teenager appeared to have a weapon.

GPD officers immediately responded, dropping what they were doing to rush to the scene. The circumstances then were still unknown, and the officers treated it like an emergency situation. Upon arriving at the parking lot, the officers found the teenagers who were still out in the open with the weapon. As they would in this situation, Heaton said, the officers executed a high-risk takedown with their weapons drawn and ordered the teenagers to put their hands up and get on the ground.

“The officers did exactly what they should have done,” Heaton said.

When the officers discovered it was not a real gun, and in reality an airsoft pistol, no charges were filed but the juvenile lost his toy and received a lecture on safety in exchange.

For Heaton, the costs to the city were great. All Greensburg units, he said, were busy working a crash at the intersection of State Road 3 and Carver Street. The officers had to leave that scene to attend to the one on Lincoln Street.

“People were put in danger because of this,” Heaton said. “We take these things extremely seriously. There’s no joke about it.”

Because the officers handling the situation did not know the gun was phony, they treated it like it was real. The teenager put himself in a seriously deadly situation, Heaton noted, that was completely unnecessary and took the officers off of an assignment where they were helping people and protecting motorists.

“Toy guns belong in the backyard, with kids playing cowboys and Indians,” Heaton explained. “It’s far too dangerous to be carrying them around and it’s not worth it.”

Those who choose to carry around the toy guns are putting themselves in danger and potentially putting those around them at an unnecessary risk, Heaton added.