Police stop man from scaring students with replica long gun at Niagara County school
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NIAGARA COUNTY N.Y. (WIVB) - Police prevented a Town of Cambria man from creating chaos at a school in Niagara County Tuesday. Officers say 21 year-old Owen Weidenboerner was walking toward a school with a replica long gun to scare students.
Law enforcement says if it wasn't for a 911 caller, this could have ended in tragedy.
"The outcome could have been tragic," said Niagara County Sheriff Michael Filicetti. "The fact that individual called really saved the day."
Just after 1 p.m. Tuesday, someone called police saying they saw a young man walking on Saunders Settlement Road waving what they thought was a BB gun.
Filicetti was one of the officers who responded to the call and found the suspect walking near Baer road. Weidenboerner was ordered to drop his weapon and then was arrested. The man was carrying a replica long gun that was not capable of firing.
When Filicetti asked him what he was doing the man said he was walking toward Niagara/Orleans BOCES to "instill fear in students."
Filicetti said Weidenboerner was about 10 minutes away from reaching the school.
"I think that statement really, it kind of stung me," he said. "I thought about, had we not been there, or the individual who called did not call, where would we have been 10 minutes from that point?"
Filicetti said even though the gun couldn't shoot, if the man went to the school and pointed it at students or police, it still would have caused a panic.
"When somebody has a long gun like that, when you're law enforcement, when you're at the school, you don't know that that gun cannot fire," he said. "There's no telling what could've happened and the alarm it could've caused the administrators, the teachers, the kids, my deputy that's there. What was prevented by that one individual that called. I don't think I could put it into actual words."
Weidenboerner was sent to a local facility for a mental health evaluation. He was charged with attempted menacing in the second degree and will appear in Town of Cambria court at a later date.
Sarah Minkewicz is an Emmy-nominated reporter and Buffalo native who has been a part of the News 4 team since 2019. Follow Sarah on Twitter @SarahMinkewicz and click here to see more of her work.