In a scene reminiscent of Riggs’s unwitting intervention on a movie set in Lethal Weapon 3 Indiana police mistook an actor playing a bank robber for the real thing. The incident is currently being investigated by Indiana State Police.

Bodycam footage of a cop from Crawfordsville, Indiana firing on what he thought to be an armed assailant  has been released. The incident occurred on 26 September when Crawfordsville Police Department responded to a call that the Backstep Brewery, a craft brewery and bar, in Crawfordsville was being robbed by a man with a pistol wearing a ski mask.

The film crew from Montgomery County Movies had failed to inform authorities about their film shoot and  Crawfordsville PD responded to the scene, calling on the actor, Jim Duff, to drop his weapon before firing a warning shot.

According to Sergeant Kim Riley of the Indiana State Police the officers responding “feared for their lives” when the stunned actor turned to explain the situation. In the video the actor can be seen dropping his pistol and taking off his mask before shouting at the officers “we’re doing a movie” to which the officer responds “excuse me?” With no cameras or crew visible outside the brewery the misunderstanding is understandable. The actor was taken into custody and the confusion was quickly cleared up with the production company releasing a statement on their facebook page stating:

Montgomery County Movies is currently working with local law enforcement to put a plan in place so this doesn’t happen again. Safety should be of the highest priority, and communication could have spared all of us from the incident, not just for MCM, but for anyone out there looking to make films.

The actor was lucky not to be shot and the incident was a close call that neither Crawfordsville police nor the production company want to repeat.