Milpitas Man, 22, Charged After Pointing Replica Glock at Family in Street Dispute

Officers rushed to the 300 block of Turquoise Street in Milpitas last Thursday after reports that a man had pointed a firearm at several people during a family dispute, only to determine later that the weapon was a realistic replica handgun. The suspect, identified as a 22-year-old Sunnyvale resident and described as a family member of the victim's ex-boyfriend, was taken into custody before anyone was hurt.

Patrol officers who responded to the scene secured the area, and Milpitas Police detectives went on to identify the suspect and obtain an arrest warrant, according to a statement from Milpitas Police. Detectives later spotted the suspect leaving in a vehicle and took him into custody during a traffic stop. Officers recovered a firearm from the suspect's vehicle that appeared to be loaded, the department said.

Detectives also obtained a search warrant for the residence connected to the case, and that search turned up a replica Glock-style handgun. The recovered firearm was ultimately determined to be a replica, not a real gun, though the department noted that such replicas are virtually indistinguishable from actual firearms — a point underscored by a case transcript referencing manufacturer markings for both a Pietro Beretta model made in Gardone V.T., Italy, and a Glock, made in Austria.

Last Thursday, officers responded to the 300-Block of Turquoise Street after receiving reports that a subject had pointed a firearm at several people during a disturbance. The suspect was a family member of the victim’s ex-boyfriend.

Patrol officers quickly responded, secured… pic.twitter.com/McfR7Hb8z3

— Milpitas Police (@MilpitasPD) August 26, 2026

Charges Filed Despite No Injuries

The suspect was charged with brandishing a firearm as well as felony assault, police said. He was booked into the Santa Clara County Jail following his arrest. The case is being tracked under case number 26-232-148, per the department's statement.

Even though the weapon turned out to be fake, California law treats the brandishing of realistic imitation firearms as a serious matter. Under California Penal Code Section 417, brandishing a firearm or deadly weapon in a rude, angry, or threatening manner is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in county jail, while a more specific statute, Penal Code Section 417.4, applies when the weapon brandished is an imitation or replica that causes a reasonable person to fear bodily harm, carrying up to 30 days in jail, according to KAASS Law.

State law also defines what counts as a fake gun in the eyes of police. Penal Code Section 16700 classifies an imitation firearm as any BB device, toy gun, or replica so similar in coloration and appearance to a real weapon that a reasonable person would believe it to be genuine, per the Giffords Law Center. Separately, Penal Code Section 20170 bars openly displaying an imitation firearm in public places such as streets, driveways, and sidewalks, according to the Shouse Law Group — the kind of statute directly implicated by a confrontation on a residential street like Turquoise.

Why Realistic Replicas Trigger Lethal-Force Protocols

Federal law and California Penal Code Section 20150 require blaze-orange safety markings on replica firearms, and altering or removing those markings to make a fake gun look authentic is itself a misdemeanor, according to Rubin Law, P.C. Officers routinely treat brandishing calls involving realistic-looking weapons as active lethal threats regardless of whether the gun later proves to be fake, since removed or absent orange tips can make split-second identification nearly impossible in the field.

The Turquoise Street corridor has drawn police attention before; the block was the site of a burglary arrest in May 2022 involving stolen computer equipment from a local business, according to a Milpitas Police Department Facebook post. It is a mixed commercial and residential stretch that receives regular patrols, though officers there — like across the department — have contended with staffing gaps. A department memorandum from October 2024 reported the patrol division averaging 4.3 vacant officer spots per shift, with shortages forcing temporary reassignments across investigative and patrol units.

This is not the first time this year that a quick Milpitas police response to a firearm-related call has ended in an arrest. In late July, a resident's tip about suspicious activity near an apartment building let officers arrive within two minutes and arrest four people in a parking lot gun bust, recovering an unregistered handgun and ammunition. The department has also pointed residents to an online transparency portal launched in April 2024, which offers access to crime statistics, policies, and operational data. Open questions remain about the exact nature of the family dispute that led to the Turquoise Street confrontation and whether the replica handgun's safety markings had been altered, details that were not addressed in the department's statement.