Township officers detained a man at gunpoint in the Nassau Park shopping center and soon found there was no real threat.
WEST WINDSOR -- The report of a man who said he had a grenade and wore a bandolier - a sling commonly used to hold shotgun shells - caused some tense moments in the parking lot of WalMart Wednesday afternoon.
Township officers detained the man at gunpoint at 12:45 p.m. in the Nassau Park shopping center off Route 1 and soon found there was no real threat.
The man did not have a grenade, and the bandolier was filled with small bottles of perfume he was peddling.
West Windsor police Lt. Robert Fow said the man, a Trenton resident he did not identify, was eventually sent on his way with a ticket for violating a local ordinance for the peddling.
And he was told his appearance and grenade comment were not the best decisions, Fow said.
Fow said the peddler with with two associates, and during the exchange with the woman he was propositioning for a perfume sale, a remark about his bandolier led him to say he "also had a grenade."
To a person unfamiliar with firearms, such a remark by someone wearing a sling usually worn by hunters, "could be a scary situation," Fow said.
The woman did the right thing by calling police. "And we handled it by the book," Fow said of the department's response.
Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find NJ.com on Facebook.