Deputy chief: Officers shot with water guns showed great restraint

ATLANTA — Have you seen the videos circulating online of people shooting police officers with water guns?

It’s a trend right now under the hashtag “#RealGunsDownWaterGunsUp” -- and the videos are going viral.

There was an event Saturday at Perkerson Park meant to encourage nonviolent interactions. But police say what happened when they showed up wasn't a joke, and officers were forced to show great restraint when people soaked them with water guns and jugs of water.

People who were there say Saturday's event started out with about 75 people, but quickly grew to several hundred.

Streets were eventually blocked, so police were called to break it up. When they showed up, that's when the crowd soaked them with water.

"That's when most of the officers were doused with water," Atlanta Deputy Police Chief Jeff Glazier said.

One video that appears to show dozens of people shooting an Atlanta police cruiser with water guns has been shared more than 113,000 times on Facebook. WARNING: There is some inappropriate language in the video linked here

"Oh yeah, they got him good," said Vontavius Gwinn.

Gwinn said he was there and thought it was funny at the time.

On Monday, Channel 2's Tom Jones asked him if he thought everyone took it took far.

"I think they did (take it too far). I think, overall, they did. They should have kept it in the park," Gwinn said.

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Glazier said officers had rocks and coolers thrown at them. He also said emergency crews had a hard time trying to get through to help someone with a medical emergency because people were jumping on fire trucks.

"When you're jumping on top of fire trucks, then I think you can call that reckless," Glazier said.

Glazier said his officers showed tremendous restraint.

"Some of (the people there) were having fun and som of them weren't," Glazier said.

Police said no arrests were made at the event and no officers were hurt.

Cox Media Group