A Cleveland 12-year-old boy holding what turned out to be a replica gun died Sunday after he was shot twice by a Cleveland police officer responding to a 911 call about a person waving a gun at a playground.
Cleveland deputy police chief Ed Tomba said the officer fired twice after the boy pulled the fake weapon – which was lacking the orange safety indicator usually on the muzzle – from his waistband.
The boy did not make any verbal threats toward the officer or point the gun, but he reached into his waistband and grabbed it after being told to raise his hands, Tomba said.
The boy did not make any verbal threats toward the officer or point the gun, but he reached into his waistband and grabbed it after being told to raise his hands, Tomba said.
“That’s when the officer fired,” he said.
Police said the weapon was an “airsoft” type replica gun that resembled a semi-automatic pistol. An orange safety indicator had been removed, police said. A man who called 911 told dispatchers before police arrived the boy was on a swing set and pointing a pistol that was “probably fake”, scaring everyone.
The caller said the boy was pulling the gun in and out of his pants. “I don’t know if it’s real or not,” the caller said. - the guardian
Source:
Guardian
Guardian
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