Bayside man charged in Bayshore BB gun incident

A 19-year-old Bayside man’s decision to turn a mall parking garage into a practice range for his new air pistol turned out to be way off target.

Colton Webb faces one count of disorderly conduct with a dangerous weapon, a misdemeanor, for an incident that caused a scare at Bayshore Town Center on Monday. According to the complaint: Glendale police responded to several 911 calls about a shooting near the Mongolian Grill. An officer saw Webb in the mall’s parking structure, holding what appeared to be a semi-automatic firearm and firing at a county bus. But the officer did not hear gunshots.

Webb initially seemed to hide behind a ledge but surrendered when the officer came nearer. At the same time, other people in the area rushed into businesses and patrons at another nearby restaurant ducked under tables as employees locked the doors.

As other officers arrived on the level where Webb had been seen, they saw him next to his father’s car. He put up his hands and was arrested.

Inside the car, officers found a replica .45 caliber 1911 pistol that was actually a BB gun.

Webb later admitted he had bought the gun and the BBs earlier that day and had decided to line up cans for target practice on an upper floor of the mall’s parking structure.

“He also admitted that doing this was not a smart move, and that even up close the gun looks real and might have made people observing him believe he was ‘trying to kill somebody,’ ” the complaint reads.