Pippa Middleton Gun Photo: Real or Fake? | Hollywood Gossipz

Pippa Middleton Gun Photo: Real or Fake?

It's all fun and games until someone pulls a piece on a paparazzo.

As we previously reported, Pippa Middleton is at the center of a gun scandal after she and her friends went for a spin in a convertible last weekend.

After partying at a raucous bash in Paris until 5 a.m., Pips was spotted leaving in a car with friends, when the driver took out what appeared to be a semi-automatic pistol and aimed it at a celebrity news photographer. But was the gun even real?

Sitting in the passenger seat, Pippa Middleton laughed.

Nobody's laughing now. Especially not her in-laws.

"This is embarrassing for them," a royal source says. The surprising scandal "has put [Kate Middleton] in a very difficult position," the source adds.

However, it appears that the excitement, which included reports that Pippa Middleton could face criminal charges, may have been overblown.

ABC News reports that the photographer claims he knew all along that the gun was a fake and has been telling people he never felt scared by it.

Even friends of one of the young fashionistas in the car with Pippa told ABC News that they have the toy gun in their possession currently.

The Sun reported that the Paris Police are "poised" to launch a probe, but there is no investigation .... because no one has filed a complaint.

Pippa Middleton Gun Photo

The mystery man pointing the gun in question, meanwhile, has finally been identified: He's Romain Rabillard, a 36-year-old French attorney.

The single Rabillard parties with a crowd of chic Parisians, including wealthy clothing designer Viscount Arthur de Soultrait, Middleton's pal.

It was his 30th birthday bash she attended Friday. If the gun was in fact fake, the accused could still face legal action, but far less severe.