Police Officer Shoots 12-Year-Old Boy Carrying BB Gun

Posted by | November 23, 2014 10:00 | Filed under: News Behaving Badly Politics Top Stories

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A Cleveland police officer shot a 12-year-old boy (not pictured) outside a city recreation center late Saturday afternoon after the boy pulled a BB gun from his waistband, according to police.

A relative of the boy is seen crying on the ground after hearing of the shooting

There were reports of a male with a gun at about 3:30 p.m. which police responded to. A 911 caller told the dispatcher, “I’m sitting in the park…there’s a guy in here with a pistol, and it’s probably a fake one, but he’s pointing it at everybody.:

“The guy keeps pulling it in and out…it’s probably fake, but he’s scaring the s*** out of people,” he added.

Cleveland.com reports that the rookie officer saw a black gun sitting on the table, and he saw the boy pick up the gun and put it in his waistband, Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association President Jeffrey Follmer said.

When the officer got out of the car, he told the boy to put his hands up.

That’s when the boy reached into his waistband, pulled out the BB gun and the rookie officer fired two shots, Tomba said.

According to Tomba, the child did not threaten the officer verbally or physically. The weapon was not pointed at police officers.

The child was shot in the stomach and transported to a local hospital. He’s listed in serious condition.

“We don’t come to work everyday and want to use force on anybody,” Tomba said. “That’s not what our job is. We’re part of this community.”

“When an officer gives a command, we expect it to be followed,” Tomba said. “The way it looks like right now, it wasn’t followed, but we’re going to continue our investigation.”

According to 19 Action News, police say the weapon was an “airsoft” type replica gun, resembling a semi-automatic pistol, with the orange safety indicator removed.

Watch:
19 Action News|Cleveland, OH|News, Weather, Sports

H/T: The incomparable @CarlaAkins with thanks.

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By: Anomaly100

894 responses to Police Officer Shoots 12-Year-Old Boy Carrying BB Gun

  1. RJ November 23rd, 2014 at 19:46

    Wow…

  2. RJ November 23rd, 2014 at 20:46

    Wow…

  3. Carla Akins November 23rd, 2014 at 19:55

    Please note: I have read all comments on this post and have deleted a number of them on both sides of the argument. We encourages civil debate but will not tolerate name calling, aggressive and hateful behavior, posts that are clearly invalid or gish galloping. I will begin deleting posts that violate the these rules and ban those that find themselves unable to follow the rules and act like adults, regardless of whether you are a regular reader or not.

  4. Carla Akins November 23rd, 2014 at 20:55

    Please note: I have read all comments on this post and have deleted a number of them on both sides of the argument. We encourages civil debate but will not tolerate name calling, aggressive and hateful behavior, posts that are clearly invalid or gish galloping. I will begin deleting posts that violate the these rules and ban those that find themselves unable to follow the rules and act like adults, regardless of whether you are a regular reader or not.

  5. Juliet Holth November 23rd, 2014 at 20:01

    Sad and tragic. Its all about guns. But the situation could have been change if the dispatcher relay the specific info of the caller that the gun was fake. The police officer could have the proper way how to handle the situation. This kid should not point the gun to anybody. Parents should educate their kids the consequences of using guns improperly real or fake. Its not advisable giving our kids toy guns as gifts. Toy manufacturers are making these toy guns now sophisticated and look so real.

    • tracey marie November 23rd, 2014 at 20:17

      the original call did say a KID on the swings has a “fake” gun, but still he is scaring people.

  6. Juliet Holth November 23rd, 2014 at 21:01

    Sad and tragic. Its all about guns. But the situation could have been change if the dispatcher relay the specific info of the caller that the gun was fake. The police officer could have the proper way how to handle the situation. This kid should not point the gun to anybody. Parents should educate their kids the consequences of using guns improperly real or fake. Its not advisable giving our kids toy guns as gifts. Toy manufacturers are making these toy guns now sophisticated and look so real.

    • tracey marie November 23rd, 2014 at 21:17

      the original call did say a KID on the swings has a “fake” gun, but still he is scaring people.

  7. brunostrange November 23rd, 2014 at 20:02

    Ah, the kid was black. It all makes sense now. It’s quite clear that in the United States, if a suspect is black, the de facto law is that cops shoot first, ask questions later.

    • Lynn November 23rd, 2014 at 20:48

      Dumb. Obviously kid knew what he was doing, thing is he didn’t think he was going to die. Act a fool look what happens. Maybe he was 51/50?
      The cops need to slow their roll, take some classes on how to deal with this even more so that they are on the radar.

      • brunostrange November 23rd, 2014 at 20:58

        What’s so dumb about it? Police kill black men and boys in this country as a matter of course. Just a few days ago, an unarmed black man was killed in the NYPD while literally doing nothing wrong. Cop was scared to see a black man in a staircase is all. A few months ago, another black man was killed in a Wal Mart for playing with a toy gun. A toy gun that was sold at the Wal Mart. Shot dead by a trigger-happy pig. In Utah, not too long ago, a black teenager walking around with a PLASTIC SWORD was shot dead by another trigger happy pig (by the way, can you guess how many of the cops were charged with a crime? Here’s a hint – the number is smaller than 1).

        Now go look at YouTube. There are countless videos of white “open carry activists” walking around city streets, malls and fast food joints waving their assault rifles around. Not toy guns – real guns, big ones. Not a single incident where the police accidentally shoots anyone, let alone engage in a confrontation. Not a one.

        So yes, as I posted above, it’s quite clear that if the suspect is black, the police in the United States will always shoot first. The protesters in Ferguson have it right: Black Lives Matter.

        • Dave Clark November 23rd, 2014 at 21:25

          I don’t have the facts on lives lost by cops that shoot and kill when it is later realized it was a mistake. The facts at Ferguson are also not something that I am that familiar with as to what actually happened. Seems like those facts are convenient to whichever side it is coming from. But, if confronted by a 12 year old who has a gun (not known to be fake) the thoughts that would be running through my head immediately is that he could be part of a gang to have a gun at that age. I would not be thinking it is probably fake and ask him to hand it over to me.
          As for statistics, does anyone know the percentage of kids (say 12 to 16) that are part of a gang – and how many are minorities (black or Hispanic) compared to Caucasian? It is not race that would be making me think what to do, but rather “profiling” if this is a wannabe gang member. If I lived in an area where the gang members were predominately Caucasian – then I would be thinking the same thing if a 12 year old Caucasian kid had a gun.
          I don’t profess to know what cops are thinking – or if they have a bias or not toward minorities. Depends on what they have experienced while on patrol. But, if you have an attitude that all cops are just going to shoot you are beat the hell out of you, then your first reaction is going to be to resist rather than follow commands. That is where the problems start and usually never end well. I think all cops have a short fuse – and once it is lit, it goes fast when someone is not following their instructions that are meant to keep everyone safe.

        • cowcharge November 23rd, 2014 at 21:46

          Please share a link to one of those “countless videos” that show any “open carry activists” “waving their assault rifles around”. Just one.

    • Carla Akins November 23rd, 2014 at 21:11

      Well, a majority of criminals are black so…

    • Carla Akins November 23rd, 2014 at 21:38

      My apologies, that wasn’t me but someone that created a similar account. working to purge it now.

  8. brunostrange November 23rd, 2014 at 21:02

    Ah, the kid was black. It all makes sense now. It’s quite clear that in the United States, if a suspect is black, the de facto law is that cops shoot first, ask questions later.

  9. Melissa November 23rd, 2014 at 20:29

    Im not sure what race has to do with this…the boy was told to raise his hands..instead he pulls the gun out…a gun with the orange tip removed..the orange tip that alerts ppl that the guns not a real gun…so im not seeing how this is race related? Or the officers fault..color is irrelevant.

    • Carla Akins November 23rd, 2014 at 20:33

      Regardless of this case: Young black males in recent years were at a far greater risk of being shot dead by police than their white counterparts – 21 times greater, according to a ProPublica analysis of federally collected data on fatal police shootings.

      The 1,217 deadly police shootings from 2010 to 2012 captured in the federal data show that blacks, age 15 to 19, were killed at a rate of 31.17 per million, while just 1.47 per million white males in that age range died at the hands of police.

      • cowcharge November 23rd, 2014 at 20:59

        Tell them not to threaten cops and they won’t get shot.

        • Carla Akins November 23rd, 2014 at 21:01

          Like John Crawford after he picked up a toy gun in Walmart? That kind of threat?

          • Carla Akins November 23rd, 2014 at 21:10

            maybe if a majority of them aren’t criminals

          • cowcharge November 23rd, 2014 at 21:36

            This article isn’t about Walmart.

            • Carla Akins November 23rd, 2014 at 21:46

              You stated: Tell them not to threaten cops and they won’t get shot. Your great idea doesn’t always apply – hence my example.

              • cowcharge November 23rd, 2014 at 22:16

                Sure, mistakes happen. But being unarmed and white doesn’t always keep blacks from killing you, either.

                • InfernoShark November 23rd, 2014 at 22:19

                  Didn’t you just imply that it wasn’t a race thing by stating “If I had meant blacks I would have said blacks” in response to my comment? Now you bring up race though?

                • Carla Akins November 23rd, 2014 at 22:21

                  What does that have to do with police shootings? Except for the fact that whites are shot less than blacks by law enforcement.

                • whatthe46 November 23rd, 2014 at 22:23

                  that’s rich coming from a Klan member.

            • whatthe46 November 23rd, 2014 at 22:10

              wait. i see. you didn’t like her response. you said “them.” “them” would include crawford who was murdered by a cop and not threatening anyone. he was one of a vast majority of unarmed black males that were killed/murdered by a cop. there have been more than 20 cases of unarmed black males murdered by cops since Diallo and GOD only knows what that number is prior to his murder at the hands of a cop.

          • whatthe46 November 23rd, 2014 at 21:53

            took the words right out of my mouth.

        • tracey marie November 23rd, 2014 at 21:02

          who is them?

          • cowcharge November 23rd, 2014 at 21:36

            The vast majority of people shot by cops.

            • InfernoShark November 23rd, 2014 at 22:03

              No you meant blacks. Let it all out you racist.

              • cowcharge November 23rd, 2014 at 22:14

                If I had meant blacks I would have said blacks.

        • tiredoftea November 23rd, 2014 at 22:26

          Yeah, let’s blame the victims. It’s so much easier than thinking.

          • Carla Akins November 23rd, 2014 at 22:27

            Yeah, he’s gone. It was a section 8 comment on RS that did it for me.

      • greenfloyd November 23rd, 2014 at 22:33

        These are vital numbers that remind us America is a country at war with itself. Again!

    • Dashing28 November 23rd, 2014 at 20:42

      I saw the headline on facebook, which didn’t state the race of the kid and i KNEW with 100 percent certainty that the kid was black, but I hoped I was wrong. Not because I wanted to see a non-black child tragically shot, but because I knew that this would be yet another in a series of stories where young innocent black men are killed because they’re not given the benefit of the doubt.

      It’s a boy. They were told it was probably a gun. And the kid didn’t point the gun at them. He didn’t deserve to be shot. No one can know for sure, but to outright deny that race may have been a factor in their decision is ridiculous.

      Race and class played a factor. If this was in a wealthy white neighborhood in Cleveland the kid probably would have not even been pepper sprayed.

      • Melissa November 23rd, 2014 at 20:51

        No one says he deserves to be shot!! He pulled an illegal gun out of his waist band…but what he did wrong will never be the issue…if a black person is shot,,its racism!! period!!

        • Dashing28 November 23rd, 2014 at 21:03

          Race played a factor. A big one. Denying that is very very strange especially when the facts bear out that this happens disproportionally to black people.

          I don’t know if the cops a racist. I don’t know what it’s in his heart. Neither do you, but it likely plated a factor.

          Be honest with yourself for a minute. If you heard the story “Cops shoot and kill unarmed man” what race would you assume the man is?

          • ATOMICKRAKIN November 23rd, 2014 at 21:35

            Your another retarded race baiting P.O.S STFU and die!

            • tiredoftea November 23rd, 2014 at 21:39

              You’re gone, asshole!

              • Carla Akins November 23rd, 2014 at 22:11

                Is that all those comments in the deleted folder?

                • tiredoftea November 23rd, 2014 at 22:12

                  Yup! I don’t ban too many but that fuck more than deserved it!

                  • Carla Akins November 23rd, 2014 at 22:14

                    Someone created another account in my name and started posting racists comments. There were only two but I panicked. Comgen rocks by the way.

                    • tiredoftea November 23rd, 2014 at 22:25

                      Alan should hire him to straighten this place out!!

                    • Carla Akins November 23rd, 2014 at 22:28

                      I was so lucky (and happy) that he was so easily reachable and willing to help.

                    • tiredoftea November 23rd, 2014 at 22:32

                      Yes, he’s a good guy.

                  • Carla Akins November 23rd, 2014 at 22:16

                    Yes, yes he did.

          • Melissa November 23rd, 2014 at 23:18

            so you are assuming the cops racist..do we even know the cops race….all this assuming!!

            • Dashing28 November 23rd, 2014 at 23:24

              Ummm….did you read what I wrote, like at all?…fine ill type it again.

              “I don’t know if the cops a racist. I don’t know what it’s in his heart. Neither do you, but it likely played a factor”

              • Melissa November 24th, 2014 at 01:25

                you also said race played a BIG factor..but you are just assuming that it did!! Id say the GUN played a big factor…but everyone’s overlooking that because the kid was black…a child’s dead its awful, lets have a race war over it!!

                • Dashing28 November 24th, 2014 at 02:39

                  Yes, of course the gun played a big factor. No gun, no death. Happy? But race did as well.

                  It’s easy to make your argument against someone who 1) claimed the cop was a racist and 2) called for a race war

                  Unfortunately for you, I did not do either of those things. It’s much harder to argue against facts. Like given the disproportionate amount of times cops have user excessive force on black people and killed innocent black folks, it’s reasonable to posit that race plays a factor in the decision a cop makes when dealing with black people. Especially when lethal force is used.

                  So rather than turning this into an immediate cause to decry the cop is a racist or to say that this had absolutely nothing to do with race the better solution is to figure out why these stories keep arising. And if prejudices influences cops choices address that issue rather than skirting it.

                  Why is looking into that a bad thing? Don’t you get tired of hearing these stories?

                  • Melissa November 24th, 2014 at 23:09

                    but they only ARISE as race issues because you make them race issues…white people get shot too…there are more black ppl committing crimes then white ppl..though there’s more white ppl in the country then black,..its easy to say more black ppl get shot when more black ppl are the ones committing crimes…that doesn’t make the white cop a racist…smfh, if a black cop shoots someone..is that a race issue as well? nah!

                    • Dashing28 November 25th, 2014 at 03:20

                      After what just happened, I’m done talking about this because it’s making me upset. It’s very difficult to maintain discourse and to try to have an open minded debate after what just took place tonight. I’m done. Have a good life.

                    • whatthe46 November 25th, 2014 at 04:05

                      count on one hand how many unarmed white males have been murdered by a black cop. count how many white guys (other than the homeless guy in N.M.) that were killed/murdered by white cops on one hand. and there are not more than black people committing crimes than white people, get that straight.

                    • Melissa November 25th, 2014 at 08:03

                      LOL…check your facts..and then we can get that straight.

      • cowcharge November 23rd, 2014 at 20:58

        What a crock. If you wait until the gun is pointing at you, you die. Pulling a gun is not putting your hands up. The sad part of the story is that the kid was an idiot and got himself shot.

        • Dashing28 November 23rd, 2014 at 21:10

          Firstly, an innocent child is dead and that’s tragic no matter the circumstances.

          You, sir, are a horrible person for blaming a 12 year old dead kid playing with a toy and calling him an idiot.

          The cop should have used judgement should know when lethal force should and shouldn’t be used and was told the gun was probably a toy.

          i REPEAT if the kid was a 12 year old in a wealthy white neighborhood he’d still be alive.

          • cowcharge November 23rd, 2014 at 21:41

            First of all, it wasn’t a “toy”. Toys don’t shoot. Secondly, the cops weren’t told that some random guy on the phone, who may or may not know anything about guns, thought it might have been “fake”. Thirdly, you’re right that it probably wouldn’t have happened if it was a rich white kid, because HE WOULD HAVE PUT HIS HANDS UP. And your opinion of me is irrelevant.

            • whatthe46 November 23rd, 2014 at 21:49

              b.s.

            • Dashing28 November 23rd, 2014 at 22:22

              and you’re racist too. Wonderful.

          • Ian M. Johnson November 23rd, 2014 at 22:44

            Not on a military installation! I grew up on bases all my life. This kid was in the 5th or 6th grade, and was old enough to KNOW BETTER!

            • whatthe46 November 23rd, 2014 at 23:55

              kids judgment are very different than adults which is why they aren’t treated the same. they do stupid things without thought of the consequences. he was likely as confused and frightened by being approached when he knew he wasn’t doing anything wrong. in his little undeveloped brain, he could very well have been attempting (which makes sense) to show the officers that it wasn’t a real gun. but, i guess you never took that into account.

          • RonHess November 23rd, 2014 at 23:31

            Wrong. Cops shoot people all the time, and they don’t have to be poor and black. This blonde white man was gunned down because some idiot cop couldn’t tell the difference between a water sprayer and a gun. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6S7LRrCru8

            • Carla Akins December 1st, 2014 at 13:44

              Yes they do. However they shoot and kill a black man every 28 hours, a white one every 42 days.

          • disqus_daK05Q2zCX November 24th, 2014 at 02:49

            Why would a parent allow their kid to play with a gun that looked real to begin with?

            • tracey marie November 24th, 2014 at 06:05

              His parents did not, it belonged to a friend

          • steve November 24th, 2014 at 03:22

            Who’s the idiot? A gun, you tell him to put his hands up, he reaches for it, if you wait for him to point it at you you’ll be dead. Probably a toy is not definitely a toy. Cops do a tough job and they don’t have much time to make a judgement call. Put yourself in the cops shoes, legitimate life and death situation. REPEAT yourself all you want, you don’t know.

            • Dashing28 November 24th, 2014 at 10:45

              “Who’s the idiot?”

              No one’s an idiot. I took issue with the asshole calling the dead kid an idiot. And I wonder if it was a blonde girl who got shot if folks would so cavalierly call her an “idiot” or just call it a tragedy…

              ” Cops do a tough job and they don’t have much time to make a judgement cal”

              That’s exactly what they’re supposed to do, make judgment calls. I’m surprised that people are so quick to defend it. I know cops, a lot of them. And the reaction from them about this is that a veteran cop likely wouldn’t have shot the kid. So maybe it was a rookie mistake.

              Either way it’s tragic.

      • motyme November 24th, 2014 at 13:10

        This is a tragedy nevertheless,i think the 911 caller probably should have relayed the message better, if there was more details the officer could have used when approaching the child

    • Ian M. Johnson November 23rd, 2014 at 22:42

      LOL, I have to call you out on this one Melissa, but not for the reasons all the idiots will. I’m going to call you out because color is VERY relevant to this discussion. The damned orange cover was pulled off! This gun wasn’t ORANGE enough to prove it wasn’t a threat. DOWN WITH THE ORANGE OPRESSOR!. Orange is evil, blah blah…. Yeah, it’s sad the kid died, worse that he was that stupid. 12 years is roughly 5th-6th grade. He’s halfway done with his education. I’m fairly sure how to handle cops is addressed around 3rd grade during a “what do you want to be when you grow up?” bit.

      • Melissa November 24th, 2014 at 01:33

        I made another comment on here about that..the orange tip was removed to make the gun look real..then you act like its real..and something horrible happened, im so sorry for his family, he was being a kid doing stupid stuff not thinking…but the cop didnt KNOW him or what was going on…its horrible all around.

  10. Melissa November 23rd, 2014 at 21:29

    Im not sure what race has to do with this…the boy was told to raise his hands..instead he pulls the gun out…a gun with the orange tip removed..the orange tip that alerts ppl that the guns not a real gun…so im not seeing how this is race related? Or the officers fault..color is irrelevant.

    • Carla Akins November 23rd, 2014 at 21:33

      Regardless of this case: Young black males in recent years were at a far greater risk of being shot dead by police than their white counterparts – 21 times greater, according to a ProPublica analysis of federally collected data on fatal police shootings.

      The 1,217 deadly police shootings from 2010 to 2012 captured in the federal data show that blacks, age 15 to 19, were killed at a rate of 31.17 per million, while just 1.47 per million white males in that age range died at the hands of police.

      • cowcharge November 23rd, 2014 at 21:59

        Tell them not to threaten cops and they won’t get shot.

        • Carla Akins November 23rd, 2014 at 22:01

          Like John Crawford after he picked up a toy gun in Walmart? That kind of threat?

          • cowcharge November 23rd, 2014 at 22:36

            This article isn’t about Walmart.

            • Carla Akins November 23rd, 2014 at 22:46

              You stated: Tell them not to threaten cops and they won’t get shot. Your great idea doesn’t always apply – hence my example.

              • cowcharge November 23rd, 2014 at 23:16

                Sure, mistakes happen. But being unarmed and white doesn’t always keep blacks from killing you, either.

                • InfernoShark November 23rd, 2014 at 23:19

                  Didn’t you just imply that it wasn’t a race thing by stating “If I had meant blacks I would have said blacks” in response to my comment? Now you bring up race though?

                • Carla Akins November 23rd, 2014 at 23:21

                  What does that have to do with police shootings? Except for the fact that whites are shot less than blacks by law enforcement.

                • whatthe46 November 23rd, 2014 at 23:23

                  that’s rich coming from a Klan member.

            • whatthe46 November 23rd, 2014 at 23:10

              wait. i see. you didn’t like her response. you said “them.” “them” would include crawford who was murdered by a cop and not threatening anyone. he was one of a vast majority of unarmed black males that were killed/murdered by a cop. there have been more than 20 cases of unarmed black males murdered by cops since Diallo and GOD only knows what that number is prior to his murder at the hands of a cop.

          • whatthe46 November 23rd, 2014 at 22:53

            took the words right out of my mouth.

        • tracey marie November 23rd, 2014 at 22:02

          who is them?

          • cowcharge November 23rd, 2014 at 22:36

            The vast majority of people shot by cops.

            • InfernoShark November 23rd, 2014 at 23:03

              No you meant blacks. Let it all out you racist.

              • cowcharge November 23rd, 2014 at 23:14

                If I had meant blacks I would have said blacks.

        • tiredoftea November 23rd, 2014 at 23:26

          Yeah, let’s blame the victims. It’s so much easier than thinking.

          • Carla Akins November 23rd, 2014 at 23:27

            Yeah, he’s gone. It was a section 8 comment on RS that did it for me.

      • floyd[@]greenfloyd.org November 23rd, 2014 at 23:33

        These are vital numbers that remind us America is a country at war with itself. Again!

    • Dashing28 November 23rd, 2014 at 21:42

      I saw the headline on facebook, which didn’t state the race of the kid and i KNEW with 100 percent certainty that the kid was black, but I hoped I was wrong. Not because I wanted to see a non-black child tragically shot, but because I knew that this would be yet another in a series of stories where young innocent black men are killed because they’re not given the benefit of the doubt.

      It’s a boy. They were told it was probably a gun. And the kid didn’t point the gun at them. He didn’t deserve to be shot. No one can know for sure, but to outright deny that race may have been a factor in their decision is ridiculous.

      Race and class played a factor. If this was in a wealthy white neighborhood in Cleveland the kid probably would have not even been pepper sprayed.

      • Melissa November 23rd, 2014 at 21:51

        No one says he deserves to be shot!! He pulled an illegal gun out of his waist band…but what he did wrong will never be the issue…if a black person is shot,,its racism!! period!!

        • Dashing28 November 23rd, 2014 at 22:03

          Race played a factor. A big one. Denying that is very very strange especially when the facts bear out that this happens disproportionally to black people.

          I don’t know if the cops a racist. I don’t know what it’s in his heart. Neither do you, but it likely played a factor.

          Be honest with yourself for a minute. If you heard the story “Cops shoot and kill unarmed man” what race would you assume the man is?

          • tiredoftea November 23rd, 2014 at 22:39

            You’re gone, asshole!

            • Carla Akins November 23rd, 2014 at 23:11

              Is that all those comments in the deleted folder?

              • tiredoftea November 23rd, 2014 at 23:12

                Yup! I don’t ban too many but that fuck more than deserved it!

                • Carla Akins November 23rd, 2014 at 23:14

                  Someone created another account in my name and started posting racists comments. There were only two but I panicked. Comgen rocks by the way.

                  • tiredoftea November 23rd, 2014 at 23:25

                    Alan should hire him to straighten this place out!!

                    • Carla Akins November 23rd, 2014 at 23:28

                      I was so lucky (and happy) that he was so easily reachable and willing to help.

                    • tiredoftea November 23rd, 2014 at 23:32

                      Yes, he’s a good guy.

                • Carla Akins November 23rd, 2014 at 23:16

                  Yes, yes he did.

          • Melissa November 24th, 2014 at 00:18

            so you are assuming the cops racist..do we even know the cops race….all this assuming!!

            • Dashing28 November 24th, 2014 at 00:24

              Ummm….did you read what I wrote, like at all?…fine ill type it again.

              “I don’t know if the cops a racist. I don’t know what it’s in his heart. Neither do you, but it likely played a factor”

              • Melissa November 24th, 2014 at 02:25

                you also said race played a BIG factor..but you are just assuming that it did!! Id say the GUN played a big factor…but everyone’s overlooking that because the kid was black…a child’s dead its awful, lets have a race war over it!!

                • Dashing28 November 24th, 2014 at 03:39

                  Yes, of course the gun played a big factor. No gun, no death. Happy? But race did as well.

                  It’s easy to make your argument against someone who 1) claimed the cop was a racist and 2) called for a race war

                  Unfortunately for you, I did not do either of those things. It’s much harder to argue against facts. Like given the disproportionate amount of times cops have user excessive force on black people and killed innocent black folks, it’s reasonable to posit that race plays a factor in the decision a cop makes when dealing with black people. Especially when lethal force is used.

                  So rather than turning this into an immediate cause to decry the cop is a racist or to say that this had absolutely nothing to do with race the better solution is to figure out why these stories keep arising. And if prejudices influences cops choices address that issue rather than skirting it.

                  Why is looking into that a bad thing? Don’t you get tired of hearing these stories?

                  • Melissa November 25th, 2014 at 00:09

                    but they only ARISE as race issues because you make them race issues…white people get shot too…there are more black ppl committing crimes then white ppl..though there’s more white ppl in the country then black,..its easy to say more black ppl get shot when more black ppl are the ones committing crimes…that doesn’t make the white cop a racist…smfh, if a black cop shoots someone..is that a race issue as well? nah!

                    • Dashing28 November 25th, 2014 at 04:20

                      After what just happened, I’m done talking about this because it’s making me upset. It’s very difficult to maintain discourse and to try to have an open minded debate after what just took place tonight. I’m done. Have a good life.

                    • whatthe46 November 25th, 2014 at 05:05

                      count on one hand how many unarmed white males have been murdered by a black cop. count how many white guys (other than the homeless guy in N.M.) that were killed/murdered by white cops on one hand. and there are not more than black people committing crimes than white people, get that straight.

                    • Melissa November 25th, 2014 at 09:03

                      LOL…check your facts..and then we can get that straight.

      • cowcharge November 23rd, 2014 at 21:58

        What a crock. If you wait until the gun is pointing at you, you die. Pulling a gun is not putting your hands up. The sad part of the story is that the kid was an idiot and got himself shot.

        • Dashing28 November 23rd, 2014 at 22:10

          Firstly, an innocent child is dead and that’s tragic no matter the circumstances.

          You, sir, are a horrible person for blaming a 12 year old dead kid playing with a toy and calling him an idiot.

          The cop should have used judgement should know when lethal force should and shouldn’t be used and was told the gun was probably a toy.

          i REPEAT if the kid was a 12 year old in a wealthy white neighborhood he’d still be alive.

          • cowcharge November 23rd, 2014 at 22:41

            First of all, it wasn’t a “toy”. Toys don’t shoot. Secondly, the cops weren’t told that some random guy on the phone, who may or may not know anything about guns, thought it might have been “fake”. Thirdly, you’re right that it probably wouldn’t have happened if it was a rich white kid, because HE WOULD HAVE PUT HIS HANDS UP. And your opinion of me is irrelevant.

            • whatthe46 November 23rd, 2014 at 22:49

              b.s.

            • Dashing28 November 23rd, 2014 at 23:22

              and you’re racist too. Wonderful.

          • Ian M. Johnson November 23rd, 2014 at 23:44

            Not on a military installation! I grew up on bases all my life. This kid was in the 5th or 6th grade, and was old enough to KNOW BETTER!

            • whatthe46 November 24th, 2014 at 00:55

              kids judgment are very different than adults which is why they aren’t treated the same. they do stupid things without thought of the consequences. he was likely as confused and frightened by being approached when he knew he wasn’t doing anything wrong. in his little undeveloped brain, he could very well have been attempting (which makes sense) to show the officers that it wasn’t a real gun. but, i guess you never took that into account.

          • RonHess November 24th, 2014 at 00:31

            Wrong. Cops shoot people all the time, and they don’t have to be poor and black. This blonde white man was gunned down because some idiot cop couldn’t tell the difference between a water sprayer and a gun. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6S7LRrCru8

            • Dashing28 November 24th, 2014 at 00:41

              …and you only had to go back 4 years to dig that one up, huh?

              How about this from last week?

              http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/22/nyregion/new-york-police-officer-fatally-shoots-brooklyn-man.html

              Of course cops make mistakes, but let’s not play the game of which race has a higher number of innocent people killed because we all know that it happens much much more to black folks.

              Again, I’m not saying he’s a racist, but race played a factor. And it does for a lot of police.

              I’m black, I’ve never committed a crime, but I’ve been harassed by the police a lot, had guns drawn on me by the police (they said I fit a description), had cops come in to my drive yard and question me because I lived in a predominantly white neighborhood, had an innocent friend (a school teacher)pepper sprayed, assaulted and arrested for doing nothing. And I’m in my 20s. This all happened recentl

              I’m not saying this shit to win a fucking argument. I really REALLY wish it wasn’t the case.

              Race plays a factor. I wish I wasn’t afraid of the cops. I wish when I saw them I didn’t feel like I’d done something wrong, but that’s the world we live in.

              I just never understood why everyone defends the status quo.

              • RonHess November 24th, 2014 at 05:15

                Well, no matter what the reality, this will always be your perception, and that of many other blacks as well. Any multicultural country is always going to be a tyranny, because different groups perceive things differently, and if a member of an opposing group has any authority, injustice will be perceived. This is why we should break up the country into different homogeneous regions. Then your cops will always be black and mine will always be white, and we can all be happy. But the agenda is opposed to this, and the way I perceive things (and executive amnesty proves it) is that those in power (and this includes white mainstream Republicans) are hell bent on committing genocide against the white population. How else can it be perceived? We are denied government jobs and places in universities, where even foreign students get preference. Trade agreements and globalization have destroyed our job prospects in favor of the Chinese, feminism and an anti-male legal system has destroyed the family, so our people are mostly childless. Our percentage has gone from 90% in 1965 to 65% today, and by definition that includes people from India and the Middle East, so for people under 50, we are most definitely a minority now, and there is a segment of the population that just can’t wait to tear us limb from limb legally. We’ll wind up like Afrikaners, living in squatters’ camps, prohibited by law from attending professional school or even receiving charity. And the propaganda machine will convince everyone that we deserve to be wiped out. Will there be anyone to stand up for justice for my people? Not bloody likely.

                • tracey marie November 24th, 2014 at 07:06

                  stop with your white supremacist garbage

              • Carla Akins December 1st, 2014 at 14:45

                Well, not everyone but certainly far too many.

            • Carla Akins December 1st, 2014 at 14:44

              Yes they do. However they shoot and kill a black man every 28 hours, a white one every 42 days.

          • disqus_daK05Q2zCX November 24th, 2014 at 03:49

            Why would a parent allow their kid to play with a gun that looked real to begin with?

            • tracey marie November 24th, 2014 at 07:05

              His parents did not, it belonged to a friend

          • steve November 24th, 2014 at 04:22

            Who’s the idiot? A gun, you tell him to put his hands up, he reaches for it, if you wait for him to point it at you you’ll be dead. Probably a toy is not definitely a toy. Cops do a tough job and they don’t have much time to make a judgement call. Put yourself in the cops shoes, legitimate life and death situation. REPEAT yourself all you want, you don’t know.

            • Dashing28 November 24th, 2014 at 11:45

              “Who’s the idiot?”

              No one’s an idiot. I took issue with the asshole calling the dead kid an idiot. And I wonder if it was a blonde girl who got shot if folks would so cavalierly call her an “idiot” or just call it a tragedy…

              ” Cops do a tough job and they don’t have much time to make a judgement cal”

              That’s exactly what they’re supposed to do, make judgment calls. I’m surprised that people are so quick to defend it. I know cops, a lot of them. And the reaction from them about this is that a veteran cop likely wouldn’t have shot the kid. So maybe it was a rookie mistake.

              Either way it’s tragic.

      • motyme November 24th, 2014 at 14:10

        This is a tragedy nevertheless,i think the 911 caller probably should have relayed the message better, if there was more details the officer could have used when approaching the child

    • Ian M. Johnson November 23rd, 2014 at 23:42

      LOL, I have to call you out on this one Melissa, but not for the reasons all the idiots will. I’m going to call you out because color is VERY relevant to this discussion. The damned orange cover was pulled off! This gun wasn’t ORANGE enough to prove it wasn’t a threat. DOWN WITH THE ORANGE OPRESSOR!. Orange is evil, blah blah…. Yeah, it’s sad the kid died, worse that he was that stupid. 12 years is roughly 5th-6th grade. He’s halfway done with his education. I’m fairly sure how to handle cops is addressed around 3rd grade during a “what do you want to be when you grow up?” bit.

      • Melissa November 24th, 2014 at 02:33

        I made another comment on here about that..the orange tip was removed to make the gun look real..then you act like its real..and something horrible happened, im so sorry for his family, he was being a kid doing stupid stuff not thinking…but the cop didnt KNOW him or what was going on…its horrible all around.

  11. Carla Akins November 23rd, 2014 at 20:32

    Regarrdless of this case: Young black males in recent years were at a far greater risk of being shot dead by police than their white counterparts – 21 times greater, according to a ProPublica analysis of federally collected data on fatal police shootings.

    The 1,217 deadly police shootings from 2010 to 2012 captured in the federal data show that blacks, age 15 to 19, were killed at a rate of 31.17 per million, while just 1.47 per million white males in that age range died at the hands of police.

  12. Coco Drilo November 23rd, 2014 at 20:47

    Can these policemen try to at least wound these people first everytime they are not sure whether these types of toy guns look real or not? Was this kid actually shooting “the gun”? Had a hostage or acting like he was really putting other people’s life in real danger? If the person tries to defend himself/herself with “the gun” after being wounded, then you could take actions to the next level, but this??? Nowadays police don´t give me the sense of protection but a sense of fear, that I´d be unfairly arrested or even shot dead! Simply sad!

    • Dave Clark November 23rd, 2014 at 21:13

      how do you know he was not shooting to wound? pretty tough to make a shot that only wounds – and if it was a real gun, I can assure you the kid would not be shooting to wound. The better thing to do was to get into a position where he did not have to shoot – like pulling the car into a position where he could get out, stay behind the car and shout out the instructions. He would not have to shoot at all until he knew if it was real or not. Would be worth it to take a small risk of allowing someone the first shot than to lose a life over a mistake.

  13. Coco Drilo November 23rd, 2014 at 21:47

    Can these policemen try to at least wound these people first everytime they are not sure whether these types of toy guns look real or not? Was this kid actually shooting “the gun”? Had a hostage or acting like he was really putting other people’s life in real danger? If the person tries to defend himself/herself with “the gun” after being wounded, then you could take actions to the next level, but this??? Nowadays police don´t give me the sense of protection but a sense of fear, that I´d be unfairly arrested or even shot dead! Simply sad!

    • Dave Clark November 23rd, 2014 at 22:13

      how do you know he was not shooting to wound? pretty tough to make a shot that only wounds – and if it was a real gun, I can assure you the kid would not be shooting to wound. The better thing to do was to get into a position where he did not have to shoot – like pulling the car into a position where he could get out, stay behind the car and shout out the instructions. He would not have to shoot at all until he knew if it was real or not. Would be worth it to take a small risk of allowing someone the first shot than to lose a life over a mistake.

  14. cowcharge November 23rd, 2014 at 20:56

    Morons, was it a BB gun or an Airsoft? Journalism is dead.

    • edmeyer_able November 24th, 2014 at 05:38

      I think you’re missing the bigger picture.

  15. cowcharge November 23rd, 2014 at 21:56

    Morons, was it a BB gun or an Airsoft? Journalism is dead.

    • edmeyer_able November 24th, 2014 at 06:38

      I think you’re missing the bigger picture.

  16. Anchovy Garbanzo November 23rd, 2014 at 20:58

    Gun Culture

  17. Anchovy Garbanzo November 23rd, 2014 at 21:58

    Gun Culture

  18. greenfloyd November 23rd, 2014 at 21:23

    The shooting comes as the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the department to determine if it regularly uses excessive force against its citizens.

    Now we have a dead 12 year-old and a rokie cop with innocent blood on his hands. It seems clear to me, society, lawmakers and enforcers failed them both!

  19. floyd[@]greenfloyd.org November 23rd, 2014 at 22:23

    The shooting comes as the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the department to determine if it regularly uses excessive force against its citizens.

    Now we have a dead 12 year-old and a rokie cop with innocent blood on his hands. It seems clear to me, society, lawmakers and enforcers failed them both!

  20. ATOMICKRAKIN November 23rd, 2014 at 21:34

    I say cull the herd by any means available!

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