Posted on 01/15/2006 1:51:35 PM PST by wagglebee
LONGWOOD, Florida (CNN) -- The father and brother of a teenager shot at school Friday while brandishing a pellet gun told authorities before an officer opened fire that Christopher Penley's gun was not real, the family's attorney said Saturday.
The eighth-grader is clinically brain dead and being kept on life support to harvest his organs, attorney Mark Nation said.
When Ralph Penley arrived at the school Friday to help police and school officials defuse the situation, he wasn't allowed inside, Nation said.
Nation said Ralph Penley was "angry" because he had spoken to police before he arrived at the school and told them Christopher did not have a real gun. Christopher's younger brother told school officials the same thing, Nation said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Thank, teeny!
I knew there was a recent case of someone being killed with a pellet gun but couldn't remember the circumstances. :)
What then was the alternative? What were they SUPPOSED to do?
BS, Barney
Where I live, about 10 years ago, some drive-by guys shot a kid with a pellet gun. Same thing happened. He died, too. People don't realize that some pellet guns can and do kill. To say it is not a "real" gun is baloney. So let's tell this to the parents and the attorney and then tell them we are going to shoot them in the chest and see if they survive. Will they take the challenge?
A Pellet Gun is a real gun - it shoots pellets!
A fake gun is a fake gun - has no fire power.
So what's the cop supposed to do, gamble his life on that tip being correct? I wouldn't take those odds. Kid wanted to die, the officer delivered. There's a reason that it's beaten into kids that a toy gun will get you just as dead as a real one when you point it at a cop.
What if the child who was killed by the police was your child? What would you be saying then?
Yup. That's why I never bother to tell the professional LEOs what I know until they are done doing their professional job. It's a waste of effort.
I'm thinking more along the line of a money happy lawyer.
Hey...those pellet guns can do some damage...especially co2 charged and shot into the head or face.
It wasn't a guy pointing a gun. It was a child with a BB gun. I think the cops overreacted. Result, one dead child. We'll see what the results of the civil suit are. I already know what the results of the internal police investigation will be. Great shooting! Give them all medals!
You're dodging my question. What were the cops supposed to do when someone points a gun at them?
I would probably be devastated. But we don't make laws/policies based on how people FEEL. I hate to say it, and I know it sounds callous, but if this kid was stupid enough to try a stunt like that, he got what he deserved.
And really, "child" is a misnomer. He was a 13-14 year-old. He was not a "child," he was old enough to think rationally and be a dangerous killer.
You could of avoided all this if you used /sarcasm
I would never be in the exact same situation, because no one is going to call me to deal with a psycho kid running around threatening others with what looks to be a real gun. I am not a cop, charged with protecting citizens.
And, if a 14 year old kid broke into my house brandishing a pellet gun as though it were real, I would be justified in killing him.
These cops had to assume that it was real. Err on the side of caution.
I am so tired of people bagging on cops. You would be in a world of hurt if they got fed up with being criticized by people like you.
Cops = good.
Stupid kids who threaten others with pellet guns that look real = bad
Take this from someone who has been shot at by a kid on a rampage in a school.
Exactly. Even better, have someone whom they do not know tell them he is about to shoot them with a pellet gun (one that might actually contain bullets, not pellets, for all they know), and see if they happily oblige.
So the cop had to shoot him in the head? The cop stocks a .45 caliber hand gun, the force from the gun alone w/ the bullet going somewhere like his shoulder would have knocked the kid off his feet and most likely the gun out of his hand. Also, I thought cops wore kevlar under their uniforms.
I also read that he had a gun pointed to his head, then raised the gun towards the cop. If the gun was pointed at his head, then how could he raise it towards the cop. Not letting the father in to diffuse the situation was the worst thing that could have happened. Why would the person deny the father in if the kid was about to kill himself.
They should have shot him, but not in the head.
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