Without knowing whether the weapon was real or fake, a Longmont police officer grabbed a handgun from a teenager Saturday after he pointed it at her near Loomiller Park, officials said.

The 16-year-old boy with the handgun and a 14-year-old boy ran away from the officer, but were picked up later that night by another officer in the 1200 block of Tulip Street.

Cmdr. Joel Post said the handgun turned out to be a Crosman BB gun, which resembles a standard Colt 45.

“Looking at the picture, you really can’t tell the difference between that and a real handgun,” he said. “So there certainly could be the potential of a deadly force encounter, which is unfortunate because there have been people around the nation shot for carrying those. Basically, nobody knows it’s not a real gun until they manipulate it.”

Post said the officer initially was dispatched at 5:15 p.m. Saturday to Loomiller Park, 1700 11th Ave., where the teenage boys were reportedly wearing masks and chasing other kids.

According to police reports, the officer involved in the incident was Officer Lily Moody, who started working with the department in January 2015 after graduating from the police academy.

Moody was not available for comment Tuesday.

Post said Moody confronted the boys walking away from the park in the 1300 block of Sumner Street, where the 16-year-old was “fidgeting around with his waistband area and ended up pulling this gun out.”

Moody, Post said, decided to grab the gun.

“It comes back to training,” Post said. “She was pretty close to these guys — I think within a few feet — and I think when she saw (the gun), it was time to get that as opposed to backing up and doing something else.”

He said the gun was left unattended in the street momentarily as Moody chased the boys across the street and one house length. He added Moody lost sight of the pair during the chase, returned to where she had dropped the gun and discovered it was a BB gun.

When the boys were found again around 9:45 p.m. Saturday just north of Loomiller Park, the 14-year-old boy was issued a summons for obstructing police.

The 16-year-old boy was transported to the Boulder County Jail on suspicion of felony menacing, obstructing police and reckless endangerment in connection with Saturday’s incident.

He also had failure to comply warrants out for his arrest on charges of first-degree criminal trespass, second-degree criminal trespass and aggravated motor vehicle theft.

Amelia Arvesen: 303-684-5212, arvesena@times-call.com or twitter.com/ameliaarvesen