Pawtucket Police say gun allegedly held by man shot by officer ‘appears to be a plastic replica’

PAWTUCKET, R.I. (WLNE) — The Pawtucket Police Department said the gun allegedly held by the man shot by an officer on Sunday “appears to be a plastic replica.”

On June 8, police responded to Broad Street and Exchange Street for multiple reports of a man with a gun who was pointing it at himself and others.

At the scene, one of the officers shot the suspect, now identified as Sebastian Yidana, once in the shoulder, according to the department.

Yidana was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The gun was recovered and “tested to determine if it fires projectiles.”

On Monday, police said that the gun “appears to be a plastic replica of a rifle.”

At the scene on Sunday, Police Chief Tina Goncalves said “the officers are trained, but to make determination whether a gun is a toy gun or not a toy gun when they arrive on scene is a very difficult determination…that would be the officer’s discretion, what he saw, what his perception was when he arrived.”

The officer who shot the man was also placed on administrative leave as part of protocol.

Police said the officer’s name will be released this week.

Pawtucket police added that the suspect had a District Court bench warrant.

The Attorney General’s Office and Rhode Island State Police are involved in the investigation.