An 18-year-old man is accused of trying to rob a man at gunpoint near tennis courts in Naugatuck Tuesday night, but the man he targeted was a 74-year-old retired police officer who realized the gun was not real, according to police.
Police identified the suspect as 18-year-old Derrick Wilson, of Naugatuck, and said he tried to rob the retired officer in Linden Park around 8:15 a.m.
According to Naugatuck police, Wilson grabbed the man from behind, pulled out a gun and demanded money, but the retired officer quickly recognized that the gun was fake and tried to knock it out of Wilson’s hand with an umbrella, police said.
Wilson fled and police officers later found him when they received a report of a suspicious person on North Main Street later that day.
Wilson was charged with attempted robbery in the first degree, possession of a facsimile weapon and breach of peace.
He is being held on bond and is scheduled to appear in Waterbury Superior Court.
