Some of us remember times and places, too, where a boy seen with a real firearm in public was not often a problem. If it was a BB gun, why weren’t all people in the vicinity made aware of that by those near the boy? Or were they? Was the boy the only person in the vicinity, when police arrived? How were bystanders acting, when police arrived? Were they acting fearful or calm about the boy’s presence? Were they laying on the ground or running away from the boy?
Concerning such incidents in general, it’s not a problem that police can solve by themselves, IMO. For several decades, we’ve passed the laws to “stop” various kinds of violence. Has the effort worked? Is there something else that we should be doing?
Those are important questions. I have had the cops called on me when I was armed, and I was exceptionally careful to avoid misunderstandings. Were the other people there thugs? Scared? We don’t know. We don’t have all the facts, but the facts we have do not seem to indicate an overreaction by the cop who shot. If there is more to learn, I am willing to listen.