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LAPD faces off with Call of Duty statue in game studio raid

Placing a life-size statue of a gunman in a window may not be the best idea, but that's what the LAPD confronted when officers stormed the offices of Robotoki.

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Desiree DeNunzio is the gift guide editor for CNET's Commerce team. When she's not writing and editing, she's either hiking through the redwoods or curled up with a good book and a lazy dog.
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Desiree DeNunzio
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Activision
In this day and age, perhaps it's not the best idea to erect a life-size statue of a gunman and place it in the front window of your office.

Yet this is precisely what the Los Angeles Police Department confronted late Thursday night when officers stormed the building of game studio Robotoki. The LAPD, guns drawn, faced off with a gun-wielding, very human-like replica of soldier Simon "Ghost" Riley from Robotoki's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 -- that and a very startled Robert Bowling, the company's president, who happened to be working late that night.

You might think that the looming presence of a life-like gunman was what inspired the LAPD to raid the building. But actually, it was the result of an unknowing employee mistakenly hitting the panic button of the office's newly installed security system, according to gaming news site Polygon.

Bowling told the publication that the employee hit the button, saw that nothing happened, and left. How does Bowling know this? Thanks to one of the office's security video cameras.

Reports had circulated earlier Friday that the raid was the result of a "swatting" attack, a prank that involves calling 911 with the goal of having a SWAT team show up at a certain location. But those reports were mistaken, Polygon said.

Ghost's days as the inspiration for office decor may be numbered.

(Via Polygon)