Student film crew almost shot at by California police [VIDEO]

A student film crew shooting a fake robbery scene at a coffee shop in Glendora, California had very real guns pointed at them by eight officers who believed the scene to be real yesterday.

The group of students was almost fired at by police when they arrived at the scene and witnessed a few holding an assault rifles and handguns that did not look like props, according to the Associated Press.

The college filmmakers were shooting at Classic Coffee on North Glendora Avenue around 7:20 a.m. Thursday morning when a woman walking by, Linda Bergslien, called 911 to report that she was witnessing a robbery and fearful for her life, according to CBS Los Angeles.

Bergslien said, “They had masks on, and the one had a gun in his hand, and it was clear they were ready to enter the building.”

Of the eight officers who responded to the call, two of them, accompanied by a sergeant entered the shop and demanded that the supposed-robbers drop their weapons.

When one suspect froze and failed to drop his fake handgun, one officer was ready to shoot.
“When he didn’t drop the gun, one of the officers reached out and pulled the gun out of his hand,” said Captain Tim Staab of the Glendora Police Department.

By the time the sergeant saw the cameras, it was almost too late for the actor. The film crew had a lot of explaining to do, as did the police.

"I can't think of a situation more dangerous than having a gun in your hand with cops responding," Staab said.

The mix up transpired because the filmmakers failed to get the proper permits to shoot and did not notify the cops. They received permission from the owner of the coffee shop, but did not provide specifics about the robbery scene. Additionally, the police had no idea a movie shoot was going on due to the small scale of the production. They had mistaken the fake weapons for real ones because the students covered up the orange marks that most weapon replicas have on them to make them appear more real.

Staab commented, “It was extremely reckless and thank goodness our officers responded in the right way,” said Staab.

The students involved are not facing any charges and were allowed to keep their prop weapons, along with a long lecture from police.