How about that? A fourteen-year-old killed his teacher with a cutter. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/10/24/all-public-schools-in-massachusetts-town-closed-for-homicide-investigation/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fmost-popular+%28Internal+-+Most+Popular+Content%29

 

You never can underestimate the threat. Especially when this is a person with a firearm and he refuses to put it down. After all those school shootings done by school guys I really do understand that reaction.

About the orange tip: If the gun had in fact been a BB gun as the OP stated, it might not have had an orange tip. BB guns do not usually have orange tips since they can inflict damage (not as much as a real gun, but they can hurt pretty bad). BB guns shoot small metal balls called BBs, and sometimes can also shoot pellets which are small metal things in weird shapes. If it was an airsoft gun, then it would have an orange tip since they only shoot small plastic balls that most likely will not kill someone. BB/pellet guns are actually used for hunting; an airsoft gun can only really kill a bug.

 

BBs (metal):

 

Pellets:

 

Airsoft gun ammo (may also be called BBs, but are plastic):

From what I read, after being repeatedly warned, the kid turned around and aimed the rifle at the officer.
 

They yelled at the teen to put the weapon down. He had his back to them and began turning around toward the officers, the statement said. "One of the deputies described that as the subject was turning toward him the barrel of the assault rifle was rising up and turning in his direction. The deputy feared for his safety, the safety of his partner, and the safety of the community members in the area," the statement said.

 

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/24/justice/california-fake-rifle-boy-killed/?hpt=zite_zite2_featured

Edited October 24, 201312 yr by br100x

Well no, shooting a 13 year old boy is never right nor is it what he deserved, it was a foolish choice he made, and that was not to listen and he paid the price & now that cop has to live with that for the rest of his life & I bet he regrets his decision, though I applaud the Officer for holding the boy accountable for his actions, he could have just tazed him, kids don't know the seriousness of stuff like that.

 

you have to think though that the cop has adrenaline pumping though him ..... to him it is a life or death situation because to him thats a real assault rifle. He gave him chances to put it down he didint.  they had no choice. because are we now going to allow kids to rob banks with guns and not shoot them because there kids? and it also is a very powerful lesson to 10 year old boys that all airsoft/paintball guns should be treated like real firearms. When i play airsoft i carry all the paper work and carry it in a locked gun case just in case the cops pull me over.  

If the police could not identify if the gun was a replica and he was refusing to drop the weapon then the police were absolutely right to take action against the boy. They have to act on their safety and the safety of others. If this boy was refusing to co-operate with the police while holding a replica gun then they were right to shoot him. Surely when you have to take that action you don't think about the person that you are aiming at, what age they are or whatever, you act upon your safety and have to think about what could happen if action was not taken.

they had no reason to shoot him unless he aimed his ------->BB GUN<------ at them.... BB GUN DUDE also hes 13 they could of tased him pepper sprayed or take it like a man and get shot... or said son put the gun down..

 

Well some BB guns are pretty realistic. Also pepper spray you have to be quite close and tazers aren't always the best against a firearm. But yes he should have been warned, then again maybe he was. We don't have the full story so we can't really judge yet!

Small update, here's a photo holding up the fake AK47 used by the teenager and a real, working AK.

 

 

It'd be hard to tell the difference from a quick look, time that isn't available when you need to make a split second decision.

Small update, here's a photo holding up the fake AK47 used by the teenager and a real, working AK.

 

-snip-

 

It'd be hard to tell the difference from a quick look, time that isn't available when you need to make a split second decision.

 

I wonder if the airsoft company left off that last part of the barrel because they were just being cheapskates, or if there was an actual reason.

Edited October 25, 201312 yr by br100x

I have mixed feelings about this. The officer shouldn't have shot him, but then again the kid didn't drop the BB gun that he made look like a real AK-47.

I wonder how the cop is feeling in all of this. No doubt the public and the media is spinning this as a shit show for him... Damn. What a waste. That's all I gotta say here. Just. Damn.

Based on what I can tell, the officer absolutely should have shot him; it was the right call, among a lot of unenviable options. If you're holding something designed to look like a gun, you want to make it completely clear that it *isn't* a gun. If a cop draws a gun on you and issues orders, you follow them. If you point something that looks like a gun at a cop, he has to decide whether he is willing to risk death on the off chance it's a fake. The cop didn't shoot a guy with a BB gun. The cop shot someone with what was apparently a rifle. He had literally no way of knowing it was a fake; there's a reason self-defense law doesn't ever worry about whether someone was an actual threat to your life (the standard is that a reasonable person in your position would *think* there's an imminent risk of death or grievous bodily harm; the standard is never that such a risk actually exists).

Working in the field, I know, and am sure that what the officers did where done because they had no alternative.  

However, if they did use lethal force whilst there were other avenues of disarm available. then they should be brought up on charges or atleast suspended pending an investigation.

 

And from looking at the pictures of the weapon (AK-47) the weapon is quite deadly and if i came across an individual who refused to drop the weapon I would shoot, not to kill, but to injure. 

Edited October 25, 201312 yr by MarkyyG123

I see you....but they didn't ask him to put it down...also he was telling them that

 

If a cop is telling you to put down your weapon (fake or not), you put it down.

You don't try tell them it's a fake. As far as the officer is concerned, it's a gun, and could be real, and you telling him it's fake, to try make the situation safer.

In my opinion, the kid should've just dropped the gun, gently kicked it away from him, and put his hands in the air.

The Officer(s), would've found out after that it was a fake, but only after, the individual, was under control, and there was no longer any threat to their lives.

I think you guys are just paying attention to him being justified.. The fact is, this young boy died due his ignorance yet it doesn't mean he "deserved" it. No one deserves to be killed. Yes the cop was justified, but can this 13 year old boy have some respect?

 

So let's try not to bash the boy too much... RIP

It's ironic that this happened because we just talked about this in my issues of law in society class today. 

 

For any situation involving a weapon in most states, the range in which it is acceptable to discharge your firearm in self defense is 30 feet. It used to be 25 feet but they lengthened it because some individuals can close that gap rather quickly. An airsoft gun like the one used here would count as a weapon of this magnitude. If the officer felt threatened in anyway, whether they order them to drop the weapon or not, they are able to act on that threat. If they feel the suspect may use that weapon against others in the community, they are allowed to defend themselves and the others in the way that they did. Interestingly enough, the same 30 foot rule applies to fights as well though usually pepper spray or tasers are used in fights. 

 

Looking from the officers' perspective I can see how they would be justified in this shooting. While it is unfortunate that it was a 13 year old boy, he allegedly ignored multiple instructions to drop the weapon. As he also removed the orange tip from his airsoft gun, which is illegal, it only increased the threat perceived by the officers. The thing I'm most worried about is when people begin to spray the tips of their actual firearms orange. That is when things would end badly.

 

I agree. This is a sad thing to have happened to this young boy. He is the same age as me.

 

*One thing, he got the Airsoft gun from a friend so his friend could have removed the tip