Police Take Down Actor Playing a Robber in San Francisco

San Francisco police officers rushed to Alpha Market in the Cole Valley neighborhood Wednesday after receiving a 911 call about an armed robbery. When police arrived, they raised their weapons to a man in a ski mask brandishing a pistol, yelling “Drop the gun!” establishing a standoff just like a scene out of a tv show.

Turns out, it was a scene out of a tv show. Unfortunately, no one told the police.

Instead of dropping the gun, the masked man yelled back “It’s a movie!”, reports The San Francisco Chronicle:

“What happened next, according to Ade Saba, owner of the Alpha Market at 960 Cole St., is that the police ‘got really upset.’

‘They wanted him to drop the gun, but the guy didn’t take it seriously because he knows it’s a plastic gun,’ Saba said.

The police report said ‘the gunman refused to put down his pistol, and the officers overpowered and disarmed him.’ He was not arrested.”

A Japanese film crew was in the area filming a comedic “stupid crime” scene for a new episode of “World’s Most Interesting Footage.” Things got serious fast, as police would tell the actor, David Lubin, he was lucky he hadn’t been killed.

The film crew had attained all the proper permits and did not need to inform the police about the bogus burglary because it was on private property. Police spokesman Officer Albie Esparza told the Chronicle that while the production crew was not at fault for not notifying the police, the unidentified 911-caller still “did the right thing.”

“Maybe the film crew could have notified the (police) station, even though they didn’t have to,” Esparza said. “There’s always someone watching in this city.”