Pippa Middleton Faces Arrest for Gun Incident in Paris

USMagazine, Monday, April 16, 2012, 5:00am (PDT)

Pippa Middleton could face jail time if prosecuted in a shocking new case involving a paparazzi photo taken in Paris on Saturday.

The 27-year-old socialite and entrepreneur, sister of Duchess Kate and sister-in-law of Prince William, was in the front passenger seat of an Audi convertible in the French capital as the driver pointed a semi-automatic handgun at photographers.

A witness in the gun-waving incident charged a formal complaint with Paris police; Middleton (plus her pal, fashion mogul Arthur de Soultrait, who was in the backseat of the car) will be summoned if authorities determine there is enough evidence for prosecution.

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"If the evidence points to [Pippa Middleton's] involvement, she will be prosecuted," a judicial source told Us Weekly. "Anybody involved in the illegal use of a handgun in public is liable to arrest and interrogation."

If the pistol turns out to be real, the unidentified man waving the gun faces up to seven years in prison; even if the weapon is fake, he faces two years. 

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With heightened, anti-terrorist security measures currently in place in France, it is "absolutely forbidden" for anyone to use a gun to "warn people off" in the county, a police source explained to Us. "If someone has a license then for a weapon then it must be kept covered at all times, and away from members of the public."

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Middleton, who became an international star almost exactly a year ago at her 30-year-old sister's royal wedding to Prince William, 29, was in Paris for Soultrait's 29th birthday bash on Friday.

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