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A Cincinnati man startled neighbors when he began waving what many thought was a rifle on the roof of an Athens, Ohio, residence Friday night, according to police.  Pixabay

A Cincinnati man startled neighbors when he began waving what many thought was a rifle on the roof of an Athens, Ohio, residence Friday night, according to police.

The Athens Police Department says Adam W. McBee was arrested Friday night and charged with "inducing panic," a felony in the fifth degree, the Athens Messenger first reported. Athens police were called after a report came in about a man waving what appeared to be a rifle on the roof of a home. Police ultimately discovered that the weapon he was holding was a BB gun.

McBee was arrested at the North Congress Street residence and his air-powered BB gun was confiscated by Athens police. He is set to appear in Athens Municipal Court on February 1.

According to Ohio state law, the charge of inducing panic dictates, "No person shall cause the evacuation of any public place, or otherwise cause serious public inconvenience or alarm...threatening to commit or committing any offense, with reckless disregard of the likelihood that its commission will cause serious public inconvenience or alarm."

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