Two men arrested for allegedly shooting arrows at film crew from Toronto balcony
Toronto is in the midst of a golden age for film and television production as more and more studios flock to "Hollywood North" to shoot projects on the cheap (at least for now.)
This movie boom has been a boon to the local economy, bringing in more than $1 billion per year in investments, jobs and even tourism dollars over the past few years — but not everyone loves how many film sets are popping up around the city these days.
On Thursday morning around 9:20 a.m., police were called to the site of a movie set in Toronto's Leslieville neighbourhood for reports of "arrows being shot at a drone" from a balcony in the Dundas Street East and Greenwood Avenue area.
While we can't yet say for sure why the arrows were shot, charges subsequently laid against two men suggest that it wasn't merely target practice.
UNKNOWN TROUBLE:
— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) September 30, 2021
Dundas St E + Greenwood Av
* 9:22 am *
- Site near movie set
- Person shooting arrows from balcony
- Arrows being shot at a drone
- Danger to people/film crew in the area
- Man barricaded inside apartment
- Officers have resolved this peacefully#GO1876235
^dh pic.twitter.com/iJy08dvo9C
"Person shooting arrows from balcony. Arrows being shot at a drone," wrote police early on Thursday. "Danger to people/film crew in the area. Man barricaded inside apartment."
Officers say they ended up resolving the incident "peacefully," telling blogTO on Friday that two people had been arrested and charged in connection with the incident.
Michael Jung, 51, and Guymond Jung, 55, were both arrested and have been charged with Assault with a Weapon, Weapons Dangerous and Common Nuisance. Both will appear in court at Old City Hall via video link sometime on October 1 (today.)
A photo tweeted by someone who claims to be a neighbour on Thursday shows one man being escorted from the scene by police in handcuffs.
Yup that my building pic.twitter.com/pwZ8Xqkbh8
— MEHDI/Onelastshot1 (@mkmaster0003) September 30, 2021
No word yet on the nature of the charges or the suspects' motivations for shooting arrows at a drone, but Toronto residents have theories... a lot of them, it seems.
"Not a fan of cinema?" mused one person in response to the original tweet from the Toronto Police Service.
"Well done TSPOps... Must admit though, I've had fantasies myself about shooting drones down! We need STRICT laws against this scourge of our skies. It will get worse," wrote another.
More than anything, commenters seemed to think the scene sounded like something that would actually work well within the context of a film: "Prob would rather have watched this than the movie," wrote one. Replied another: "Reality is better than movies."
