Make-believe drama became true life for a local film crew last Saturday evening, Oct. 10, when an Edmonds Police K-9 unit happened upon a gun-fight scene behind the Burlington Coat Factory store on Highway 99, and assumed it was for real — until the police dispatcher cleared up the misunderstanding.

D.A. Sebasstian of Edmonds-based Go-Kustom Films said he had notified Edmonds police a week earlier that the crew would be filming at the site for his new film — “Rat Rod Rockers!” — using blank-firing hand guns. However, according to Sebasstian, the K9 officer did not see the memo alerting officers to the activity, so when the officer heard shots fired, then saw a man (who turned out to be an actor) with a (fake) bloodied arm, he approached the group with his gun drawn. Once the details were sorted out, cast and crew were allowed to continue filming, albeit a bit shaken from their brush with the law.

A complete account of the drama can be found on the Go-Kustom blog here, but Sebasstian stressed that he and his wife, who was also on hand for the filming, were impressed with the way that Edmonds police handled the “very, very tense” situation.

If you want to see the final product, “Rat Rod Rockers!” should be in film festivals in March-April 2010. Sebasstian’s last film, “Hot Rod Girls Save The World,” came out in December 2008, premiering at the Backseat Film festival in March 2009.