CRIME
UK Police Detain ‘Armed Man’ Dressed As ‘Star Wars’ Stormtrooper With Plastic Blaster
Grampian Stormtrooper /Facebook
A longtime Star Wars cosplayer in Scotland was stopped by police and questioned after a bystander reported an armed man on the train over the weekend.
The cosplayer, known on social media as Grampian Stormtrooper, was dressed up like an Imperial Stormtrooper from the Star Wars universe, but with Scottish flair: a kilt.
He was on his way to DeeCon, a comic book convention at the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee on Saturday morning. Shortly after boarding a ScotRail train at Aberdeen Station, the train stopped, and he was approached by a guard, he said in a post on Facebook.
Guard came to chat asking about blaster, he wrote. Then asked me to go with him for a chat.
The train returned to Aberdeen Station, where he said he was met by two firearms officers, three Police Scotland, two British Transport Police, and was escorted off the train.
He explained the blaster was really just a plastic prop. Nevertheless, the police took him back home to get a bag for it, then returned him to the station so he could catch another train. He said the police also asked him not to wear his Stormtrooper armor on the train anymore.
Crazy world we live in, he wrote. Been doing it 10 years first time any issue with stormtrooper blaster.
British Transport Police confirmed their response to the false alarm in a statement to AberdeenLive.
Officers received reports of a man with a firearm entering Aberdeen station just before 9 a.m. on Saturday, police said. Officers attended alongside colleagues from Police Scotland and it was determined it was a false alarm.
TMX contributed to this article.
