Bank tellers make a false report of robbery

A Cedar Rapids bank calls in a report that a robbery was taking place, but actually some kid was walking outside with a pellet gun. Police respond and with restraint and take the kid into custody. Teen Playing with Pellet Gun Causes Bank Robbery Scare.

CEDAR RAPIDS - Police say a call for a bank robbery lead to officers taking a 13-year-old down at gunpoint, but he never robbed the bank.

Instead, police say the boy had found a pellet gun and was walking along Williams Blvd in front of the Dupaco Credit Union while he was playing with the gun.

Employees of the credit union panicked.

Dupaco employees locked the doors and called the police, not knowing it was a pellet gun.

We have a dumb kid walking around with a pellet gun and the tellers panic leading to a lock down and calling for help.

And then we have CR police spokespersons saying another pearl of wisdom.

"We don't have super-ray vision to tell if its a real gun or a fake gun, so we treat them all as if they're real. its a sad thing that we have pellet guns that look so real," said Cristy Hamblin, Cedar Rapids Police Department.

"Super-ray vision", cute. I'm sure she'd like to outlaw all guns in "civilian" hands, just to be on the safe side.

I label this under "idiots in charge" because of Hamblin's comment and for the credit union employees who panicked. The CR police used restraint when approaching this kid rather than shoot him and I give them credit for that.