Boy, 8, faces charges for pointing toy gun

The Ann Arbor News ^ | 03/02/02 | Liz Cobb

[What Is Ain't]

An 8-year-old Whitmore Lake boy is facing criminal charges for pointing a toy gun at three other youngsters and threatening to shoot them.

Even though the incident involved a toy gun, the Washtenaw County Prosecutor's Office said, Tommy Davis' intent was to threaten and scare the other children. The boy, who was 7 at the time of the incident, has a hearing on three felonious assault charges next week in Washtenaw County Juvenile Court.

"I think it's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," said Lisa Davis, Tommy's mother. "This is a waste of taxpayers' money. I didn't think it was against the law to have a toy gun. Doesn't the police department have anything better to do than to take complaints from kids who have a dispute with other kids?"

Davis said her son had several run-ins with one of the children before the Dec. 6 incident that occurred after school in their Northfield Estates Mobile home community park.

Northfield Township Police Lt. Dennis Gruschow said the age of an individual does not prevent an investigation when a complaining witness wants to pursue prosecution.

"The police department must investigate allegations of any type of criminal offense," Gruschow said. "We turn over what we have to the prosecutor's office and they make the call on whether to charge an individual."

Children as young as 7 can be charged based on a Michigan Court of Appeals decision, said Washtenaw County Assistant Prosecutor Donald Ray, who heads the prosecutor's office at Juvenile Court.

The court holds that a child under 7 is not able to form an intent to commit a crime, but a 7-year-old child can form the intent and therefore can be charged.

Tommy told The News that on the day of the incident, he and a friend were riding their bikes to another part of the mobile home park when he saw the three children. He said he took the gun out of his pocket.

"I just pointed the gun at them," he recalled this week. "I don't know if I said anything bad at them, but they got scared."

A Northfield Township police report said the three children, two of whom were 7 and one 6, were on Turquoise Drive, near Barker Road, when Tommy Davis "pulled out a gun and pointed it at them and said he was going to shoot them."

Tommy Davis, according to the report, said he never told the children he was going to shoot or kill them, but did tell one of them, "don't fight me anymore."

An adult resident driving by saw a child pull a gun "from underneath his jacket and point it at the other children," the report said. The witness saw one child lying on the ground and another with hands raised in the air. When the child with the gun saw the adult, he ran away. The witness, who went over to the children, said one was "crying hysterically saying he was going to shoot us."

Tommy Davis is charged with three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon. For adults, the maximum penalty for the charge carries up to four years in prison. For juveniles, it's up to the judge's discretion.

Ray said the boy could get anything from probation to a stay in juvenile detention.

[Mfkmmof4]

When Toys-R-Us stopped sellling toy guns. Problem is kids (like mine) make them out of legos. A neighbor got upset because my 5 year old threatened to get his father's gun and shoot someone....problem...we don't own a gun. This iis so ridiculous. I say let kids play cops and robbers and be KIDS!!

[Osinski]

Nothing these fanatics hate worse than an e-mail and telephone campaign indicating that people will not stand for this kind of tyranny. Rats like to hide and operate in dark places.

[Future Snake Eater]

Anybody hear Mel Gibson on TV yesterday? He said he believes our government knows exactly where Osama is. They won't get him because they don't want to.

No offense to Mr. Gibson, whom I respect greatly, but he probably knows about as much as the search for bin Laden as Barbra Streisand does about the environment...

[katnip]

Even though the incident involved a toy gun, the Washtenaw County Prosecutor's Office said, Tommy Davis' intent was to threaten and scare the other children.

Ah yes, the thought police are at it again.

When did it become a crime to scare someone?

[bettina0]

Here in NJ, kids were suspended for doing the same thing.

[PaulJ]

Society is producing little boys who throw up their hands, drop to the ground, and shout "Don't shoot me!" when a toy gun is pointed at them by another little boy.

You are so right Harrison. Just this morning I was discussing with my wife how many of the kids today are becoming unable to handle real life. A kid dies and an army of shrinks decend on the school to help them through their grief. Result: We now have young adults that are incappable of handling death.In my office their are young people who have not attended their own grandparents funerals because they "don't like funerals" (as if anyone did)

We teach our kids that there is no right or wrong answer, how they feel about it is what's important. Result: The boss criticizes a young adult, and they are beside themselves with anger.

And this stuff is just the beginning. The good part is, the kids that are being taught the real facts of life are the ones who'll be the leaders tomorrow, and hopefully, my boys will be with of them.

[OldEagle]

LAX?? Sure is. It would be great if the police had apprehended all of the perpurtrators of more serious crimes and had in effect worked their way down to "crimes" of this level, but it is easier to bust the eight tear olds. The people of this town need a new DA.

[StayoutdaBushesWay]

Same here! I'm so PO'd right now. I'm glad I took my BP meds today.

[RonDog]

"Nothing these fanatics hate worse than an e-mail and telephone campaign indicating that people will not stand for this kind of tyranny. Rats like to hide and operate in dark places." - Osinski

EXCELLENT idea!

Here is a good place to start:

Prosecuting Attorney
Brian L. Mackie

200 N. Main Room 429
P.O. Box 8645 
Ann Arbor, MI 48107-8645 
Phone: (734) 222-6630
Fax: (734) 222-6670

---

[e-mail addresses for] Our staff:

Ramona L. Fernandez, Senior Assistant Prosecuting Attorney
Anne Lerini, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney

[INSENSITIVE GUY]

Seems like in the summer time some of those caps would'nt go off and that would really frustrate me.THIS BUSINESS HERE IS RIDICULUS!

[RonDog]

"..."The police department must investigate allegations of any type of criminal offense," Gruschow said. "We turn over what we have to the prosecutor's office and they make the call on whether to charge an individual."
.
Children as young as 7 can be charged based on a Michigan Court of Appeals decision, said Washtenaw County Assistant Prosecutor Donald Ray, who heads the prosecutor's office at Juvenile Court..."
.

Prosecuting Attorney
Brian L. Mackie

2270 Platt Road
P.O. Box 8645 
Ann Arbor, MI 48107-8645 
Phone: (734) 971-3246JUVENILE DIVISION

Juvenile Court:   
Juvenile delinquency, child abuse and neglect proceedings
Brian L. Mackie, Prosecuting Attorney

---

[e-mail address for]
Donald G. Ray [rayd@co.washtenaw.mi.us], First Assistant Prosecuting Attorney

Shall we FReep Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Donald Ray?

[JimSEA]

Me too. I am still trying to figure out why these people want to prove their compassion by destroying a little boy. An lecture to never point a gun, even a toy gun, at anyone and a wap on the trousers was all or more anyone should have done here. What in the devil are we hearding toward.

[ThreePantherEightyDuce]

Cap gun rage; kids on the lose lusting to make loud noises. The horror.......the horror.......

[MistrX]

When I were a lad, as a fifth-grader in rural Michigan in the mid sixties my friends and I would carry our .22 rifles down the street, through the schoolyard and into the woods for some plinkin'. George Putnam is right. We are living in an age of insanity.

[turk99]

What a load of crap! This stuff just goes on and on.

[cricket]

Think it is time for public service commercials - warning America of a sinister artificial intelligence that poses as authentic reasoning. . .

Just cite any of the numerous examples, such as this child being arrested. . .along with the warning. . .

"This is your mind on Liberalism". . .

[StayoutdaBushesWay]

Thanks for the info, you bet I'm going to FReep this creep!

[machman]

I wonder what these people would have thought of me and my friends when we were young growing up in Michigan. We used to go out in the woods and shoot each other with BB guns. Of course we wore head and eye protection and big puffy coats, but damn, if those things hit you in the wrong place, it sure did hurt.

[mamelukesabre]

judging by the article, i'd say this kid definitely deserves some kind of punishment. I don't know that the law has any business charging a kid this young though.

He was not merely playing with a toy gun. He was actually trying to scare the * out of some kids by acting like his toy gun was a real gun. He threatened them. That sounds a little more serious than a kid "playing make-beleive" with a toy gun.