Three young men were arrested at gunpoint Friday afternoon in the parking lot shared by Game Stop, Babies R Us and Dick’s Sporting Goods, as local sheriff’s deputies closed in on a suspected stolen car.
“Early in the day we received a call about someone in a car pointing a gun from inside a vehicle,” Lt. James Duran of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station told The Signal late Friday afternoon.
Deputies began searching for a silver-colored Mercedes-Benz in connection with the gun-pointing incident shortly after 2:30 p.m., he said.
“We couldn’t locate the vehicle,” Duran said.
Patrol deputies, however, stumbled on a car – silver-colored Mercedes-Benz – in the parking lot on Carl Boyer Drive reported to be stolen.
“The stolen vehicle matched the description of the car wanted in the gun-pointing,” Duran said. “The stolen car and the gun call car were one in the same.”
Deputies descended on the parking lot about 3:30 p.m. and ordered three occupants of the car out of the vehicle at gunpoint.
“We detained three people,” Duran said, noting the suspects were placed in custody on suspicion of having a stolen car.
Asked about the gun reportedly being pointed at the person who called the sheriff’s station, Duran said: “It turns out it was a lighter gun.”
The instrument is a lighter shaped to look like a semi-automatic handgun.
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