+1. Punishing players for resolving a simple issue with a rational response both in and out of RP is not an intelligent move, and encourages this type of behavior. This type of behavior, of course, being that you may harass and discourage RP as much as possible, but so long as you are not reported, or you toe that line, you can get others in trouble by simply playing the babe in the woods card and feigning innocence. That isn't fair to the people who actually contribute to and play the server.
This is, at the absolute most, warranting only a warning that there was potentially alternative action. However, any active player of the server can attest that people get shot much more often for much less. Guns are often pulled for absolutely no reason, so a 30-minute-long harassment and minging campaign culminating in someone being shot is absolutely reasonable. Staff now often advocate for ruleplay over roleplay, in my opinion, and strict adherence to what is written rather than an application of reason. This makes me incredibly sad to see. Just the other day, I was speaking with the fine folks in the top levels of the NOI about how RP could be implemented between the NOI and government, and they expressed interest in real systems and real interactions to share that possibility with the server at large. Banning them for this is silly and ignorant.