Daillens (VD)
Gendarmerie patrols and a negotiating team were mobilized after several reports of an armed man. The scene was really just a joke.
The mobilization worried the residents, who are now used to robbing vans.
–Keystone
–
The blood of some residents of Daillens came to a halt when they saw a young man wandering around the village in military fatigues, armed with what looked very much like a rifle. It must be said that several robberies of vans have taken place in the region in recent months, largely legitimizing the fears of these residents. The Vaud gendarmerie therefore received several telephones to report this threatening individual to them; some have even announced the attack on a postal truck, whose sorting center is nearby. Armed with this information, the security forces mobilized several patrols, about ten agents, as well as the negotiation service. “This is the procedure for this kind of intervention, we don’t know who we’re going to fall on,” explains Roger Muller, spokesman for the Vaud cantonal police.
–
However, fans of action films must have been disillusioned, and the rest reassured themselves: “It was nothing more than a scene in bad taste,” he continues. A 14-year-old boy had set out to play comedy as part of a birthday party, pulling out his best military fatigues and an Air Soft rifle, making the illusion rather believable. He was arrested by the agents, then taken into care. “He will not go into custody, since he clearly poses no danger,” said Roger Muller. As to what the teenager risks for his bad joke, “it will be up to a prosecutor to decide.” Comparable cases have in any case been worth several fines amounting to a few hundred francs in recent years.
—
