He was only trying to shoot a segment for a television show. But police were concerned that another type of shooting altogether might occur when they took him down at a San Francisco filming location Wednesday.
The San Francisco Chronicle, which identifies the man as David Lubin, reported that he was overpowered by police officers after refusing to drop a fake gun while filming a robbery scene for a TV series.
The San Francisco Police Department confirmed the incident.
Police responded to a 911 call placed by a resident who saw the man with a gun at the Alpha Market in the Cole Valley neighborhood. Lubin, who was wearing a ski mask at the time, was ordered to drop the weapon but didn't respond to the warning. Police, unaware that it was a bogus weapon, then overtook and disarmed him.
No arrests were made, as the production company Duo Creative Communications had secured the proper permits for the shoot.
The scare was in stark contrast to the spirit of the shoot, which was intended to be a lighthearted bit for a series called "World's Most Interesting Footage," Duo Creative filming coordinator Yasmine Yoshida told the Chronicle.
"We were shooting about a stupid crime -- a little segment people can laugh about,"Yoshida said. "It's supposed to be funny, but all of a sudden it wasn't funny at all."
According to Yoshida, Duo Creative had filmed at the location each month for the past year. "World's Most Interesting Footage" is shot in San Francisco but airs in Japan, after being overdubbed in Japanese.
