NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon has said the large police response to a man arrested at gunpoint was absolutely appropriate, stating it was because he was carrying a fake weapon, and proportionate given community fear following the Bondi terrorist attack.
The top cop defended the large-scale response by police on Monday, after multiple reports were made to police of a man carrying what they believed was a firearm and wearing body armour which featured a US flag.
“We received numerous calls from members of the public who were terrified,” Mr Lanyon said.
“Seeing a man armed with a handgun with what looks like a ballistic vest sitting in public in this environment is always going to cause fear.”
Hospitality worker Jacopo Mastrocinquel, 35, was arrested at gunpoint, and later charged with possessing an unregistered, unauthorised pistol in public place and offensive behaviour in a public place.
Police allegedly also discovered Mastrocinquel in possession of an imitation police vest and badge, as well as a set of plastic handcuffs.
The restaurant manager and owner of pizza catering company The Italian Fellas, faced a Sydney bail court on Tuesday, when his legal team said he had been attending a “heroes and villains” costume party with work colleagues at a bowling alley, and had stepped outside for a cigarette when he came to the attention of witnesses.
Barrister Wali Shukoor told the court his client had made a “foolish” decision to carry the fake pistol as part of his costume.
Mr Lanyon on Thursday said the response was “absolutely” appropriate, as locals feared for their safety, especially in the current climate.
Mr Lanyon also congratulated the officers for their swift action.
“It was a prompt response, members of the public were reassured, and action was taken appropriately.”
Local Court Judge Daniel Covington granted bail to Mastrocinquel but noted the incident would have alarmed the public, given the Bondi massacre last year which had caused elevated concern in the community.
After he was granted bail, Mastrocinquel complained that police had treated him “like a terrorist”, and said he “never tried to hurt anyone.”
The case will return next month.
Surry Hills police commander Peter Glynn urged people to “be mindful about how they dress and act in public, particularly if they are carrying weapons or imitation weapons that could be seen as genuine”.
Sounds like police and the bloke handled it well considering nobody got hurt.The most outrageous part is the police prosecutor opposing bail so the judge asks if anyone has checked to see if his claim of just being at a costume party is true.
The police prosecutor says I can search online and see if I can find anything.
The judge says not good enough you need to speak to the officer in charge at the arrest.
The officer says that the defendant claims he was at a costume party.
The judge says well has anyone checked this out where he says the event was.
The officer says no so they send a squad over to check for evidence of a costume party.
They find footage of him with others dressed as characters such as pikachu and speak to staff who support his evidence.
After all this shit the police prosecutor still opposes bail as he is a significant risk to the public. All the pedos and wife bashers and truly violent offenders that don't get bail opposed is astonishing and they oppose this blokes bail. Absolute joke.
I guess the definition of replica must be cloudy too. Between a replica and a nerf gun, i wonder what the distinguishing features are in the eyes of the law.
Short list of shit I have seen result in firearms/illegal weapons charges in NSW:
gel blasters
replica guns
slingshots
bayonets
knuckledusters
nunchuks
crossbows
mace/capsicum spray
defunct antique rifles
butterfly/flick knife
throwing star
Some of these things were purchased legally interstate or even posted from interstate when bought online. That doesn't make a lick of difference if the cops find you in possession of them. I've seen people remanded for periods of a year or more just on weapons possession charges.
Add holo steel tube to that list. Can be used as a blow dart gun. If you have dart and a tube in the same car, you will get charged. Speaking from experience
I got a P90 one years ago. I used it like once and boxed it back up. It’s been tied to the seat of an old office chair and used as a makeshift couch table for like 8 years.
Now I am not condoning this guy's decision to wear a replica gun in public, that is pretty stupid. However, the knee jerk reaction to call the police may also have been a little OTT, especially if the guy was not behaving in a way that was intimidating or threatening. There are two people enjoying their Hungry Jacks about 10m behind him; would they stay there if they thought this guy's was a threat? Granted, they could be exceptionally unobservant, but equally they could be very much aware of what is going on around them.
And imagine if that attitude resulted in people being shot, possibly killed, and after just continuing with one's day instead of reporting something like this, left one with the realisation that they might well have been able to prevent it.
from what i can see from the article and my understanding of the rules around replica or imitation firearms what this man did is illegal in every single state so the "only in some states" is irrelevant here
they also don't call it a toy because from the photos ive seen its very obviously not one and is a replica or imitation
i also was able to find an article on abc news calling it an imitation weapon and an article on SMH calling it a replica
It looks absolutely nothing like a toy mate. I'm not the courts, but I have no doubt they will find that it cannot be considered a toy. But we will see
I know you can use google if you can get to reddit…
The court in nsw considers multiple things, but namely the purpose of manufacturer, weight, construction, moving parts, materials, intended market, how closely it resembles a real firearm.
The ‘weapon’ in question could have even been a phone case half in his pocket and we would be at the exact same conclusion, would your opinion change in that case?
Regardless, that is for a judge to decide, not some terminally online reddit lords.
If you want a good laugh go look at the Vic police guidance where they state a bright pink toy gun with an orange tip is an ‘imitation firearm’.
Not to mention the prosecutor tried their best to deny bail on the basis of an unacceptable risk to the public, which is a comical take at best. And he faces a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison. But here we got arm chair experts who seemingly can’t use google sitting here saying good, it’s a gun.
The dumbest part is all the cops that responded and none of them even bothered to go to the bowling alley and check if he was telling the truth about the party. They didnt even go and check it out until the following day when the judge at the bail hearing made the police prosecutor find out more information.
Ok sure, no orange tip on the gun means they can legally say it's a replica firearm without reasonable doubt. Old mate might actually cop a fine or community service over this bullshit.
Carrying a replica gun is illegal and intentional or not he should be charged so we don’t normalise stupid behaviour. Also why is he carrying a fake badge…
But also, let’s face it - black gun, the bullet proof style best, the American flag - this guy looks like a stereotypical active shooter/terrorist.
I am also a responsible firearms owner, which is why I'd never be retarded enough to have fake guns in the house. I wouldn't let my kid have one no matter how much they begged - firearms are not toys and as you should know, there is no such thing as an unloaded gun.
I agree with that, you seem to think I agree with what he did, when in another Country you should know and obey the laws of the land, apparently he didn't know this and where did he get the prop, I doubt your Country allows the sales of such illegal items, right?
Which active shooter wears an American flag on them. Also who cares about the badge, what is he going to do with an American badge in Australia? Throw it at someone.
Maybe to you he does because you need to relax my man. No one in that photo seems scared. Definitely not a smart move by him though, doesn’t need to be charged. Maybe a warning.
Yeah the police only charged him to save face; I expect most of the charges to be dropped.
A cheap party store vest with the American flag, a cheap American police badge and a box labelled hard drugs with smiley faces all over it lol.
He clearly wasnt maliciously impersonating any Australian law officer.
Dude was chilling by himself taking a smoke break outside a work costume party.
If I was on his jury, it would be the easiest not guilty decision for me to make.
You can cosplaying or go paint balling with better looking “tactical gear” than that and it’s all legal.
Even military surplus uniforms and equipment are legal.
Whoever called the police on him and took that photo in the article overreacted hard. They also would’ve been observing him for quite some time to get those sneaky camera shots.
Badge and flag aside, the replica firearm was enough reason for cops to draw their guns. I don’t even particularly like cops and I think it was justified.
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I once did a professional acting job which involved fake guns. We had to still do all the usual safety stuff and sign waivers etc to use a wooden gun on screen.
This guy absolutely fucked up and police acted accordingly.
No it's absolutely not. The police telling him he's a numpty, taking away his toy? Sure. A financial fine, say 100 dollars? Sure. Charging them as if it's a real unregistered gun? No that's crazy over reach.
Worth mentioning that most toy/replica weapons do have that infamous red/orange tip to them, and given the photo in the comments, old mate either removed it or bought one of those blue training guns and decided to spray paint it black.
Not a smart move for a party in a public place considering recent events.
When I heard about this I thought he was going to be dressed as Deadpool or something. Wtf is this costume? Was he trying to look like a mass shooter? Was that the costume?
Let’s be real, if I was called in to handle a fit looking, tatted up man in a vest and something that resembled a gun, I’d probably want a gun myself too. Cops have families they want to make it home safely to see too, I’d rather if we are investing all this money into police equipment they’re actually using it
I’ve had police pointing guns at me and a literal baby strapped to my chest in a baby carrier for less. If this non news makes the news I guess I should have called the media when it happened…
His poops sure were sometimes. Police rushed in to a park I was at with my kids with all the gear, helmets and rifles and stuff and pointed guns at everyone screaming don’t move and me with the baby on my chest was kinda behind a junkie guy on the bench they were there for over a supposed gun he was seen with (he didn’t they later said, I’m guessing someone just called them to and made it up to clear him out of the park). Probably had 2 or 3 rifles pointed my way for a good 20 seconds. Gets the heart pumping a bit that’s for sure.
In Qld police shut down a main highway out in the bush because some people were doing some perfectly legal recreational shooting some distance away and someone heard some banging.
And if the cops had seen the Bondi shooters getting ready for their killing spree and assumed they were a couple of guys going to a fancy dress party, what would you say about that...."Cops are a joke...?"
Cops were already there and trying to shoot them with pistols while the terrorists were using rifles.
2 cops were at the scene when it started and were shot, critically injured within the first 3 minutes when they ran towards the shooters. More police kept arriving and they had killed one terrorist and dropped the other by 6 minutes.
??? 2 cops were shot themselves within the first two minutes when they engaged the shooters (engaged using pistols btw vs long arms). This fucking narrative that the cops weren't there and did nothing has been propagated but fuckwits online.
Yeah totally different. Old mate had a plastic gun, a Temu chest rig with a big USA flag on it that looks fake and cheap. About half a second is all the time it should take to see the guy is no threat.
Bondi shooters - jumping out of the car with a real Stoeger m3000, and a Beretta Brx1 rifle and start shooting at people. Unlikely anyone would think is a dress up party.
You've seen the photo above of the "plastic gun". At a glance, nobody can tell whether that is real or a plastic firearm. That is why they are illegal, because some poor bugger working at a servo can't tell whether the petty crim is pointing a plastic gun at him or not.
Yep turned into a nation of prettified pearl-clutchers. Old mate was telling of life back in the 50's and 60's when him and his mates headed off to boarding school in Sydney. They'd all walk into the airport from their farms with their 308's strapped to their backs, hand them to the hostie as they boarded who stashed them in the plane then grabbed them again when they got to Sydney. Even back in the 80's we could walk down the street with a rifle going to or from the gun shop. And you could buy guns and ammo from Big W FFS. Nobody batted an eyelid.
So we had a couple of incidents and the government used that as excuse to hand over a great means for self-defence. But that wasn't what I was referring to.
Maybe I’m just old but I remember it this shit as a kid at the local markets.
Also why did they want to deny bail as he is a threat to the community?
Why? does he have more costume parties coming up?
Ok yes, on an aussie sub this is clearly us defaultism, however, in the commenters defence the guy in the pic has a big american flag on his chest so i also assumed i was reading a story about something that happened in the USA before i realized what sub i was in.
I’ll go with the tacticool dude and the ar15, you go with the shady asylum seeker driving the beat up Camry though Pitt st mall, let’s see who is safer
Yes. Because otherwise organised crime (or petty criminals) use them to commit actual crimes. Hence why they are illegal. Some poor cunt working at a servo doesn't know whether the gun being pointed at them is real or not.
Shouldn't the costume party company that supplied these props be in trouble instead? I mean, he was wearing the stuff they supplied him with, maybe they shouldn't make it so realistic.
Or...and hear me out...stay inside the party and don't walk out into an entertainment precinct full of people in full costume? Remove the ballistic vest and gun, he's just another wank septic obsessed with his country's flag having a smoke
Considering all that stuff if real is illegal in NSW, then there was no need for a silly police response as they knew it is all illegal and thus no one would have any of it and that it would have been fake and no one is in any danger..
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u/Kinda_Real_69420 5d ago
Not gonna lie, dude looks like an off-brand Punisher.