A Halloween mask-wearing man sparked a huge armed police response after a bank worker spotted a gun in his rucksack outside her branch.
Donnie Heanan was rummaging through his bag in the doorway of the Royal Bank of Scotland on Union Street when the weapon was spotted in a cardboard box.
Fearing for public safety, the staff member phoned the police, who swooped on Heanan as he walked along George Street.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told the weapon turned out to be a £7.99 BB gun he’d just bought from the nearby Nickel & Dime store.
Fiscal depute Lydia Ross said officers were called by a member of bank staff just after 1.30pm on October 27 last year.
“A staff member observed the accused bent down on the floor in the entrance to the bank,” she said.
“He was rummaging through his rucksack. The employee approached the accused and observed him taking a box out of his rucksack.
Left with gun and wearing a ski mask
“She described the inside of the cardboard box as styrofoam with what looked like a firearm within.
“She then observed the accused placing the box and other belongings back into the rucksack before placing a black mask, which she describes as a hockey or ski mask, on his face and walking up Union Street towards St Nicholas graveyard.
“She was alarmed by this incident and contacted the police.”
Heanan, 35, was traced on CCTV and apprehended on George Street by armed police – a moment which was filmed and widely shared on social media.
“Due to the nature of the incident, a firearms incident was declared with several armed response vehicles being dispatched,” the fiscal added.
Defence agent Neil McRobert said that in the hours between the bank incident and Heanan being arrested, he had visited a property and left the weapon there.
“He walked away from the bank, stopped at a bus stop and got on a bus,” he said. “He was later traced with no mask.
“Armed officers got out from the police vehicle and approached him calmly and he got on the ground as instructed.
“The item, what was believed to be a firearm, was not on him or in his rucksack at that point but was later recovered from the address he had been at in the intervening period.”
‘This was a toy BB gun… it had never left the box’
The gun meanwhile turned out to be a pellet gun bought from a convenience store.
“It was described as an airsoft gun – basically a BB gun that fires pellets,” the solicitor added.
“This was a toy BB gun which he had. It had never left the box. He bought it for £7.99 from a Nickel & Dime shop.
“He tells me he was not aware of the fact he was in a bank doorway.
“He had stopped to rummage in his backpack to look for a lighter. As he got up to go away, he had stopped and put a Halloween mask on.”
“Appearing sober following his time in custody, my client realises the stupidity of his conduct and how alarming it must have been,” Mr McRobert added.
Admitted Ukraine-support vandalism
Heanan was originally charged on indictment and appeared in private accused of carrying an imitation firearm.
Once the case was reduced to summary court a not guilty plea was accepted to that charge but he admitted behaving in a threatening or abusive manner “by removing from a bag an item bearing the resemblance of a firearm” and covering his face with a mask.
He also admitted charges of vandalism and shoplifting.
Those included further offences including an instance of vandalism where he wrote “Victory to Zelenskyy” “if not NATO” and “then be ready for round three” on a wall at The Capitol building on Union Street.
This occurred a week before the BB gun incident and he immediately told police officers “I am sorry… can I not just rub it off?”
Handed extra jail term
Heanan also admitted to stealing alcohol worth £14 from the Coop on Union Street two days before that, on October 18 last year.
He appeared in the dock from custody at HMP Grampian, where he has been remanded since the BB gun incident last October and where he is also serving an eight-month sentence imposed in November for a community payback order breach.
Sheriff Linsday Foulis told him the incident must have been “very concerning for the bank employee”.
He handed Heanan, a prisoner at HMP Grampian, a 10-month prison sentence.
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