Canonsburg officers confiscate airsoft guns that look like real weapons

CANONSBURG, Pa. — A recent call to a home in Canonsburg shows just how quickly an officer must determine whether a gun is real or fake.

“The officer only has a split second to decide is that a real gun that is going to possibly kill me or is this a toy gun,” Canonsburg Police Officer Jonathan Cornell said.

Cornell was called to a home on Smith Street Sunday morning after a grandmother said a friend of her granddaughter was asleep on a couch with a gun next to it. The woman said her husband grabbed the weapon, and ran outside before calling police.

The weapon, which did not have an orange tip on it, turned out to be an airsoft pellet gun.

“We asked if he had any more weapons on him. He said, ‘We had a bag full of guns.’ These three (were) airsoft (guns) as well,” Cornell said.

Police said they want parents to be aware of how dangerous airsoft guns can be because they look realistic without the orange tips.

“Our main concern, if he would have been startled when we came in the house and picked up a gun and pointed it at a police officer, who knows what could have happened,” Cornell said.

The teen told police that he had the airsoft guns because he likes to go shooting in the woods. His mother requested that Canonsburg police confiscate the weapons.

Cox Media Group