Armed police race to reports of 'gunslinger' twirling pistol on Castleford street
Panic-stricken member of public dialled 999
A police armed-response team were deployed after a man was seeing walking along the street spinning a pistol on his finger.
Kian Cooper was described as acting like an “old-style Western gunslinger” which prompted a member of the public to dial 999.
The 26-year-old was jailed at Leeds Crown Court this week.
The incident was reported to police at around 9am on April 20, when a shocked resident spotted Cooper on Watling Road in Castleford, holding the black pistol and twirling it on his fingers.
The firearms team were deployed but were unable to find him. From the description given, they were able to ascertain it was Cooper.
They were able to locate him and arrest him, but he said he had left the pistol at his girlfriend’s home.
When officers spoke with her she said she was not happy with the gun in her home so had thrown it over a fence near woodlands.
They found the weapon, which was an air pistol that had no gas or ammunition.
Cooper, of no fixed address, admitted possession of an imitation firearm. He appeared in court over a link from HMP Leeds where he was being held on remand.
He has two previous convictions for five offences. He was jailed in 2023 for unlawful wounding at Xscape in Castleford and jailed for 23 months.
In October last year he was in trouble again for aggravated vehicle taking and going equipped. He received a 32-week suspended jail sentence.
The gun offence put him in breach of that suspended sentence.
Mitigating, Oliver Norman said that Cooper was having health issues, suffering from seizures.
Judge Anesh Pema activated all 32 weeks of the sentence and two weeks for the gun offence, to run concurrently, making a total of 32 weeks.