LEGO Gun Draws SWAT Team

By John Farrier in Everything Else on Dec 4, 2009 at 9:34 pm

Jeremy Bell of Toronto, Canada, bought a LEGO kit that assembles into a realistic facsimile of a handgun. Naturally, it struck him as a good idea to bring it to work:

It was the end of the day so Mr. Bell and a few colleagues decided to wind down by playing a few rounds of the video game Modern Warfare 2 at the office before heading home. A little while later, sudden, intense yelling filled the office hallways.

“We originally thought there was some sort of domestic dispute out there … that was until I clearly heard my name,” said Mr. Bell.

“The guy sounded seriously angry and was instructing me to slowly come into the hall with my hands on my head.”

It was Toronto’s Emergency Task Force, more commonly known as the SWAT team, responding to calls of a man in an office with a gun.

Link — Thanks, Jeremy Barker! | Photo: Global TV

UPDATE 12/5/09: Jeremy Bell has blogged about the incident (via Hell in a Handbasket).

Tags: Gun, Lego, National Post, Toronto

Neat stuff from the NeatoShop:

Johnny Cat
Dec 4th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
It must be weird working in a cool office that plays MW2, but random panic freaks have apartments that look into your office. The police behavior was controversial at best. I know I would be angry if they threw me against a wall.

And how did they know his name?
Diane
Dec 5th, 2009 at 12:42 am
If we ever make Lego illegal , only criminals will carry Lego.
ted
Dec 5th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Why does Lego make realistic-looking guns?
That’s just asking for trouble.
Innomado
Dec 5th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
The company mentioned in the article that sells those lego kits is going to get so much business from this. ^_^

Granted that there is little information given but deploying what was reported as nearly two dozen police officers, SWAT and enough cruisers to block off the surrounding streets included, plus EMTs and a chopper seems like a wasteful overreaction to a single report that doesn’t seem to indicate eminent threat.

Both the news article and Bell’s blog indicate that the call made to police just said that the person saw Bell sitting in his office with a gun on his desk and his door closed. Isn’t some form of verification or further assessment of the danger appropriate. An example to me would be keeping the person making the report on the phone and sending a patrol unit or two by to carefully check things out while putting the tactical response units on alert.
Juice
Dec 6th, 2009 at 1:50 am
So the guy thinks that the police’s actions were justified? After all, it DID look like a REAL gun. So what? Holding a gun in your hand gets you a SWAT team now? With a helicopter?
BigBertha
Dec 6th, 2009 at 2:54 am
Hahaha, if you watch the video linked from the guy’s blog, the neighbor sticks a sign in his window: “Sorry – It looked real!”

And to be fair, if the guy was assembling the toy, from the neighbor’s vantage point, it would look a bit suspect. A guy sitting alone in an office, fiddling with a handgun? If I saw something like that, I’d probably notify the authorities too; imagine if you ignored it and later learned the guy went on an office shooting spree?
Todd Sieling
Dec 6th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Anyone else think it’s kind of gross for Lego to be selling a gun-kit? That ain’t the Lego I remember, and definitely not the kind I’d let kids have.
Innomado
Dec 6th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
@Ted: Please read the articles linked above. It is made quite clear that the kits are produced and sold by a third party company, not by the Lego Group.(links are in Bell’s blog post)

@Juice: I agree with you. I find it understandable that he feels some embarrassment but his tone indicated to me that he feels responsibility, which seems absurd.
ted
Dec 7th, 2009 at 10:39 am
@Innomado. If it’s not Lego, then it shouldn’t be called Lego here, should it?

Why is a “third party company” making realistic gun kits? My point still stands. It’s a dumb idea.
Shep
Dec 7th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Johnny Cat didnt you read the article? It was from a neighboring apartment thats window could see into the office.

Keep track of the comments with

Don't Miss: New Stuff | Bestsellers | The Cute Store
Funny T-Shirts

Need a gift? Get unforgettable gifts for:
Geeks | Pranksters | Kids | Hipsters | Shutterbugs

The latest from NeatoBambino: