Posted on 10/23/2013 6:03:31 PM PDT by markomalley
Two sheriff’s deputies in Northern California shot and killed 13-year-old boy who they thought was carrying an assault rifle, only to find out that the gun the teen was holding was a toy, police and family members have said.
The officers, on patrol Tuesday in Sonoma County, reported seeing the boy carrying what appeared to be a black AK-47, reports the AP. A photo made public after the tragedy show a toy weapon with a black magazine cartridge and brown butt.
Sheriff’s Lieutenant Dennis O’Leary told reporters the deputies called for backup and repeatedly ordered the boy to drop the weapon before they both opened fire with their handguns. It was not clear whether the boy, later identified as Andy Lopez by his father Rodrigo, pointed the weapon at the officers.
Rodrigo Lopez told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat his son had been taking the toy to a friend’s house and also carried a pretend pistol in his waistband. The family said the gun was a “toy” but a police press statement described it as a “replica” Airsoft gun designed to look real while firing small plastic BBs.
“I told him what I tell him every day,” Mr. Lopez said of the last time he saw his son on Tuesday morning. “Behave yourself.”
Neighbor Brian Zastrow said the incident occurred in the afternoon when students were on the way home from school and many parents had left their jobs. The sudden eruption of gunfire echoed throughout the neighborhood.
“First I heard a single siren and within seconds I heard seven shots go off, sounded like a nail gun, is what I thought it was,” he said. “After that I heard multiple sirens.”
A video of the incident captured by another neighbor reportedly shows the two officers taking cover behind their patrol car with a body visible in the foreground.
The names of the officers involved have not been made public but both have been placed on administrative leave, a routine course of action after a shooting occurs.
Lopez was an eighth-grader at Lawrence Cook Middle School, where he played trumpet in the school band. The community adorned the site where he was shot with candles and other tributes, yet reports made it clear the shocking news had not yet sunk in for the Lopez family or the surrounding area.
“Andy was a very loved student, a very popular, very handsome young man, very smart and capable,” Lawrence Cook assistant principal Linsey Gannon told the Press Democrat newspaper. “Our community has been rocked by his loss.”
Approached by reporters upon returning home from identifying her son, Sujey Annel Cruz Cazarez wept as she was comforted by family and friends.
“Why did they kill him?” she said. “Why?”
You gotta love misplaced modifiers!
well, I am assuming the headline meant that the boy was holding the toy rifle (not the police, since theirs seemed to have worked)...?
but then again, I’m not an English teacher
Feinstein’s goons?
Feinstein’s goons?
The Police didn’t know how to shot him in the leg or in the Butt?
NEWS FOR THE ILLITERATES BY ILLITERATES!
We took care of your parenting problem. Here’s a bill for the bullets.
The ghost called “Not Me” is responsible for the senseless killing. Somebody, please exorcise that ghost and send it to hell permanently.
Well, you know...as long as the officers went home safe at the end of their shift, right?
LOL! I don’t care for that “brown butt” thingy either.
Sure they did.
and more locally The Socialist Party of America’s own Lynn Woolsey’s
The police are taught to shoot to kill rather than disable and accuse anyone who thinks that might sometimes be an option, that “this isn’t Hollywood”.
In this case assuming the police even should be shooting at all, I can see nothing wrong with shooting at the feet of a 13 year old. BTW, stabbing their opponent in the feet was a favorite trick of Scottish warriors.
Why were the police holding toy rifles?
Well, you know, sequester and all...
It’s a loss of the love of God. Easier to say than to remedy, of course.
Obama is giving local police departments military tanks so that it soon won’t matter what part of the kid’s anatomy the cops shoot at
We are told by many FReepers that there just is no room to bother learning to shoot with that precision, and that all gun instruction says “aim for the torso”, the biggest part and easiest.
I don’t know how many times I’ve said they should be shooting for arms and legs if there is no clear threat. Clear threats, sure, but a kid who hasn’t fired anything?
This is sad. Even if he was a bit flippant or non-chalant, he didn’t seem to perform any actual actions that deserved this.
What’s the parenting problem?
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