Armed police arrest man for 'playfully pointing toy ray-gun at baby'



Police scrambled eight patrol cars filled with armed officers after a man in his 50s pointed a toy ray-gun at a baby and said 'Pow, Pow'.



The man, who has not yet been named, was arrested earlier today after he approached the baby and its mother with a 'silver ray-gun' which lights up and makes a buzzing noise when the trigger is pulled.



Onlookers in Hove, East Sussex, were astonished when the police cars sped to the scene to apprehend the man.

A man was arrested by armed police for pointing a toy ray-gun at a baby and saying, 'Pow, Pow' (file picture)

Alison Edmonds, 23, said that she saw the man - who is not believed to be related to the baby and mother - approach the pram holding the toy gun, before jokingly saying 'Pow, pow' while pressing the trigger repeatedly.

The mother of the child then called police, who sent an armed response team to find and arrest the man, who was waiting for a bus less than a few hundred yards away.

Miss Edwards said: 'It was unbelievable. All he did was try to make the child laugh, but the mum decided to call the police and obviously told them a man with a gun had threatened her and her baby.



'What happened next was truly astonishing. I've never seen anything like it. These eight cars screamed to a halt and surrounded the poor man at the bus stop.



'They were fully kitted out with machine guns, rifles and everything.



'The man didn't know what was happening. All he was trying to do was make the baby crack a smile.'



Police seized the man's toy ray-gun and arrested him on suspicion of possessing an imitation firearm in a public place.

