RENO –– Just after midnight on Monday morning, officers from the Reno Police Department were at a downtown motel in the 500 block of West Fourth Street looking for a subject who was reported to be armed with a handgun.  Bruce Carpenter, 29, was found arguing with another individual.  When the arguing pair saw the officers, the other individual, whose name is not being released, called for help, ran towards the officers and said Carpenter was armed.

When Carpenter saw the officers, he pulled what officers believed to be a gun from his waistband.  Carpenter ran up a flight of stairs, stopped at the top and set the gun down.  When Carpenter reached back into his pants, officers used a taser to incapacitate him and were able to take him into custody. Carpenter is charged with obstructing and resisting and assault with a deadly weapon.

Although the gun looked like a real semi-automatic pistol, according to police, it turned out to be a Air Soft gun with the orange tip barrel safety feature removed.