"I'm just coming home now so I don't know what's going on," she said.
"I just live over there, my husband's at home. He's probably watching the telly and probably doesn't know it's happening."
The woman was let through the cordon after about 10 minutes.
Western Bay of Plenty tactical response manager Inspector Karl Wright-St Clair said no arrests were made because it appeared the man suffered mental health issues.
Toy guns, BB guns and paintball guns sparked police call-outs regularly, he said.
"We treat every incident with a firearm or potential firearm seriously so obviously it's not a good idea to be wandering around in public presenting or showing toy weapons because it's very hard for police to tell whether it's real.
"It's a waste of resources. We do treat it seriously and we gather together a lot of resources to deal with something like that.
"People need to use a bit more common sense."
People were putting themselves at risk when they took toy guns out in public, Mr Wright-St Clair said.
"We wouldn't attend an armed incident without being armed ourselves so people have to be prepared for an armed confrontation."
Mr Wright-St Clair said a person could be charged for presenting an imitation firearm in a way that made people think it was real.
It was punishable by a fine and sometimes a short prison sentence, he said.
