While it may have only been a joke for 21-year-old Daron Stinson, his father was far from amused by a series of videos showing his son harassing and intimidating random residents with a fake weapon.
"It's not funny to me," Rodney Stinson said. "I'm his father! I'm appalled by it!"
Rodney says his son posted the "drive-by pranks" on his Instagram account, showing him and another friend inside a car calling out towards people walking on the sidewalk in Philadelphia. They then point a fake but realistic looking gun towards the victims and pretend to fire.
One video shows a victim ducking and jumping on the ground while another shows a victim fleeing and another slipping and falling onto the sidewalk.
A third video shows the men, once again in their cars, pointing their fake gun towards a man salting a sidewalk and demanding that he give them the salt. The man then spills the salt in a panic.
In all three videos, the pranksters drive off laughing.
In another video on his page, Daron claimed that the videos were all in good fun.
“All of this is jokes,” he said. “I’m not out here really robbing people. I’m not out here really shooting people. I could be doing that. That’s the s**t I’m trying to leave behind.”
However, the incidents were far from a laughing matter for the victims involved. Police say two of the victims filed police reports.
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"He considers it funny," Rodney said. "He does a lot of other things. Nothing with the gun is funny. Nothing. I don't consider it funny."
Monday night, Daron turned himself in to Central Detectives with the help of his family. Stinson's family told NBC10 he was booked and would spend at least the night behind bars.
While Rodney made no excuses for his son, he also told NBC10 that Daron normally apologized to the people he pranked but didn't get a chance to in the most recent videos.
"Unfortunately, the situation with the gun was so frightening that people ran away and he didn't have the opportunity to explain himself," Rodney said.
Jwakil Bullock, a North Philadelphia resident, believes police actually helped Stinson by taking him into custody.
"Somebody's gonna really harm him," Bullock said. "If the cops don't get a hold of him, somebody's gonna harm him if he's running around doing that."
Despite the terrifying experiences, no one was ever hurt and nothing was stolen during any of the pranks.
