A 911 caller, who was sitting in a nearby gazebo, told police several times that the weapon was probably a fake, but the dispatcher did not relay that information to the responding officers, referring to it only as "a gun," police tapes show. Deputy Chief Ed Tomba said the officers believed they were on a "gun run."
Seems to me like the dispatcher was at fault.
The gun looked real because the weapon was pure black,
the orange tip was painted over. Normally you can tell
a weapon is fake by the tip of the gun because it has a
different color. Trust me, some fake weapons look real
when the tip is colored black to match.
It's a sad case though.