Police said they found the duck hunt pistol in Dalesandro’s pants and he was arrested and booked into the York County Detention Center. Police have not released additional information confirming if Dalesandro has a previous criminal record, but continues to be held at the detention center without bond.
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Crimes committed using fake or imitation guns are on the rise and using it in lieu of a real gun can carry similar consequences as if the perpetrator had brandished a real gun. “Carrying a fake gun and using it as if it were a real gun is a recipe for incarceration,” Baltimore City Chief Deputy State’s Attorney Michael Schatzow told WBAL News in 2018. He added, “We take this very seriously because, from the victim’s perspective, it makes absolutely no difference.”
Despite reports of a rise in crime using fake guns, this has been an ongoing problem since the mid to late 1980s. A research project initiated by the U.S. Congress in 1990 found that between January 1985 and September 1989, 458 police departments amounting to 65.5% of the study, reported that 5,654 robberies were committed with an imitation gun. This accounted for 15% of all robberies, and during that same time period, the report found that 8,128 known assaults were committed using imitation guns.
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Natasha Pratt Harris, who coordinated the criminal justice program at Morgan State University told WBAL at the time, “That yearning for power, control and, in many cases, protection, lends itself to what we’re seeing now, replica use and/or actual gun use.”
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