12-Year-Old With BB Gun Shot Dead By Cleveland Police
Via CNN
A Cleveland police officer responding to a call about a person with a gun fatally wounded a 12-year-old boy brandishing what turned out to be an air gun that looked very much like a real firearm, police said early Sunday.
The shooting Saturday afternoon came as the nation nervously awaited a grand jury decision on whether to charge the police officer who killed African-American teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in August.
The attorney for the family of the Cleveland youngster, who also was black, downplayed any possible racial connotations to the shooting.
“This is not a black and white issue. This is a right and wrong issue,” attorney Tim Kucharski said.
Police were summoned to the scene outside a recreation center by a 911 caller who said someone — possibly a juvenile — was pointing a gun at people.
“There’s a guy in there with a pistol, you know, it’s probably fake, but he’s like pointing it at everybody,” the caller said, according to audio provided by CNN affiliate WEWS.
“He’s sitting on a swing right now, but he’s pulling it in and out of his pants and pointing it at people,” the caller said. “He’s probably a juvenile, you know?”
When the two officers arrived, the boy did not point the weapon at them or otherwise threaten them, Deputy Chief Ed Tomba of the Cleveland Division of Police told reporters early Sunday.
But he did reach for the weapon, Tomba said.
“The officers ordered him to stop and to show his hands and he went into his waistband and pulled out the weapon,” he said.
Although the officers have been placed on leave, Deputy Officer Tomba defended their actions.
While saying a thorough and open investigation was under way, Tomba defended the officers’ actions in what he called a “very, very tragic situation.”
“They were doing their job,” he said.
Police shootings of African-Americans, particularly young men, have been under rising scrutiny in recent months following the shooting of Brown by a white officer following a brief confrontation in Ferguson.
The boy didn’t point the gun, nor threaten the officers.
How f***ing hard would it have been to call out to the boy from the patrol car’s loudspeaker?! Guess only certain types of folks get that kind of “prvilege”.
SMFH.
R.I.P. to the young man, prayers for his family.
Image via Shutterstock
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