CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. – A movie set turned all too real for one actor when an Indiana police officer fired a shot at him while filming a scene for a movie on Tuesday, according to WXIN.
According to Indiana State Police, the Crawfordsville Police Department responded to a 911 call of an apparent armed robbery in progress at Backstep Brewery on North Green Street. The caller told dispatch a man entered the bar wearing a ski mask and holding a gun.
When officers arrived, they saw a man exit the bar with a mask on, still holding a gun. The man was actually actor Jim Duff shooting a scene for a movie.
“He was the only person that backed out, the only one that came out and he was in a ski mask and holding a weapon. Whether it’s real or not, you don’t know that at the time,” ISP Sgt. Kim Riley said.
The officers say they told Duff to drop the gun, and he allegedly turned toward the officers. “When you’re told to do something, the one thing you don’t do is turn toward police while you’re holding a gun,” Riley said.
The officers said they felt their lives were in danger and fired at Duff. He dropped the gun and pulled off the mask while telling the officers, “This is a movie set.”
An investigation by Indiana State Police revealed that Montgomery County Movies production was shooting a scene at the brewing company.
No one was injured in the ordeal, and the film crew and other actors were inside at the time of the confrontation. “We could not see the police, so when the actor left the building we had no knowledge any police had even arrived at the scene,” said Montgomery County Movies owner Philip Demoret.
“The bad part is all the cameras and everything were inside the bar. So there was nothing outside telling people that this was a film set,” Riley said.
Police said neither the production company nor the bar owners notified police or local businesses about the film shoot. The gun the subject was holding was a movie prop. Actor Jim Duff was placed into custody until the story could be authenticated, and then he was released.
Demoret says he’s grateful no one got hurt, “We’re actually going to work with the Crawfordsville Police Department to make sure this does not happen again.”
