Australian police shot a man dressed as the Joker and a woman dressed as Harley Quinn late Saturday night after being called to the nightclub Inflation where a costumed sex party was taking place.
While the Harley Quinn cosplayer merely sustained a non-lethal flesh wound in her leg, her partner was rushed to the Royal Melbourne Hospital where he was initially in critical condition before eventually being stabilized. According to the police, they opened fire on the couple because the man dressed as the Joker allegedly brandished a gun at them. But security for the event said they verified the gun was not real, and witnesses who were attending the “Saints & Sinner Ball” claim the man was not holding it at the time of the shooting.
“Venue staff have stated that the male victim was not holding anything in his hand,” club owner Martha Tsamis said in a Facebook post. “Rather he was in a compromising position with his female partner, which is a normal activity with the nature of this event.”
Lisa Hardeman, the superintendent of Victoria police department’s northwest metro region, stated that the some 40 “Critical Incident Response Team” police officers showed up on the scene after receiving multiple phone calls from other partygoers who’d seen the Joker’s gun and mistaken it for the real thing. However, Tsamis said no guests contacted security with concerns about the weapon.
[The Age]