BB gun found during man’s arrest was dead ringer for handgun, police say

Mankato police say a man arrested following a weapons complaint was carrying a BB gun that was a dead ringer for a handgun.

Anthony Brock, 21, of Westbrook, was arrested Tuesday afternoon after a third party called police to report an incident he’d witnessed.

The complainant had observed a red Pontiac stop near a bar in an alleyway near 100 E. Rock St, while another man ran towards the vehicle.  A criminal complaint filed in Blue Earth County Court identifies the running man as Brock.

The complaint says Brock appeared to be agitated and nervous as the driver handed him an object and the two men conversed.

A third man walked up the street, according to the complaint, and Brock yelled at him, loaded what appeared to be a handgun, and pointed it at the man. The complainant told police he believed Brock was going to fire the weapon.

The two men drove away, but the vehicle was located by police minutes later.  The man in the passenger seat was arrested on warrants, although police received information from nearby workers that the men in the car had switched places.

Police say a gun was in plain view in the car’s front seat.  A protective weapons search was done, and the gun was determined to be a BB gun.

Mankato Public Safety Associate Director Dan Schisel said the gun Brock was carrying was a “very, very real” replica of a .380 handgun.  “You would not know the difference unless you were basically holding it in your hand trying to identify the caliber it shoots,” said Schisel.

The complaint says a pepper spray container was also found in the vehicle.

Brock was carrying a folding knife and more than a gram of marijuana in his pocket, says the complaint.  He denied the weed was his.

Brock told police a man demanded money from him during a transaction of a speaker.  The man had pointed a 9mm weapon at him, Brock said, and so he responded in self-defense.

Brock is charged in Blue Earth County Court with gross misdemeanor carrying a BB gun in a public place and misdemeanor drug possession.

 

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