Baltimore Cops Shoot 13-Year-Old Boy Carrying Replica Handgun

[Suzanimal]

On Wednesday, a Baltimore police officer shot a fleeing 13-year-old boy holding a replica semiautomatic pistol, WBAL-TV reports. Authorities say the boy is expected to survive.

According to police, two plainclothes detectives spotted the replica handgun, identified themselves as officers and approached the boy. Authorities say the boy then ran and the officers pursued on foot, shooting him at the end of the chase. From The Baltimore Sun:

[Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin] Davis said he had “no reason to believe that these officers acted inappropriately in any way,” saying the officers did not know whether the weapon was a gun or a replica.

Davis also confirmed that the boy’s mother was taken in for questioning. He told reporters at the scene that “she knew” that he had left their home with the replica weapon.

After initially refusing to show reporters, Baltimore police released an image of the replica pistol they say the boy carried.

...

http://gawker.com/baltimore-cops-sho...-ha-1773494553

Update...

Witness: Teen Said "It's Not Real" About BB Gun Before Baltimore Cops Shot Him

A teenager carrying a BB gun who was nonfatally shot by a Baltimore police detective Wednesday said “It’s not real” before the detective opened fire, according to one eyewitness. The boy’s mother identified him to the Baltimore Sun as 14-year-old Dedric Colvin.

Baltimore Police Department Commissioner Kevin Davis told reporters yesterday that two plainclothes detectives were driving down E. Baltimore Street when they spotted a boy carrying what Davis identified as a “replica semiautomatic pistol.” The detectives exited their car, identified themselves as officers, and told the boy to stop, he said. Colvin began running; the detectives chased him for about 150 yards, and one of the officers shot him twice in his lower body. He is expected to survive the injuries, police said. Davis has not shared the detectives’ names with the press.

The timing of the shooting was eerie. On the same day, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake held a rally across town, in East Baltimore, to mark the one-year anniversary of protests and riots that followed Freddie Gray’s death in police custody.

Davis said he had “no reason to believe that these officers acted inappropriately whatsoever,” and noted the realistic appearance of the gun the boy was carrying. “I looked at it myself today, I stood right over top of it, I put my own eyes on it,” he said. “It’s an absolute, identical replica semiautomatic pistol. Those police officers had no way of knowing that it was not, in fact, an actual firearm. It looks like a firearm.” A photograph of the gun, which the Sun identified as a Daisy’s PowerLine Model 340, confirms this: it looks exactly like the real thing.

But an eyewitness account given to the local NBC affiliate WBAL complicates the commissioner’s contention that there was no way for the detective to know the gun wasn’t real:

A witness, who identified himself as Bryan, said he saw the shooting as he was in his truck on Baltimore Street. The first thing he claims he saw was the boy running, drop a basketball he was carrying and then he saw to people chasing him.

“(The teen) turned towards them but he wasn’t turning the gun towards them and I’m positive I heard him say, ‘It’s not real,’” Bryan said.

Bryan said police yelled at the teen to drop the gun as they approached him before he motioned the gun upward, not toward the officers.

“He said, ‘It’s not real. It’s not real,’ and that quick, the male officer shot him twice in the leg,” Bryan said

...

http://gawker.com/witness-teen-said-...ium=socialflow

[TheTexan]

That gun looks pretty real... are the Officers OK?

[TheTexan]

Davis also confirmed that the boy’s mother was taken in for questioning. He told reporters at the scene that “she knew” that he had left their home with the replica weapon.

What!??! That child needs a new government-issued mother. Replica weapons are dangerous, someone could get hurt!

[jllundqu]

Sorry the boy was hurt, but you play with replicas that look identical to real weapons... expect a similar result.... oh and don't run from the police while holding said weapon.

[Brian4Liberty]

[Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin] Davis said he had “no reason to believe that these officers acted inappropriately in any way,” saying the officers did not know whether the weapon was a gun or a replica.

So assume that the gun was real. They are saying that the penalty for exercising your Second Amendment rights (bearing arms) is summary execution?

Maybe it's OK because there is due process. The cop or undercover cop yells "drop it" one second before opening fire? Blam! Due process.

[FindLiberty]

Authorities should take guns away from those who go around shooting innocent people and leave them to use their night sticks and pepper spray instead.

[Schifference]

Shooting would be justified even if no gun or replica were found. I thought he had a gun and was concerned about my safety is all a cop needs these day. Besides if he hadn't done anything wrong then why run. Thank God we now live in a safer society. I can't wait for Hillary so that all guns can get taken off the streets.

[Ender]

Sorry the boy was hurt, but you play with replicas that look identical to real weapons... expect a similar result.... oh and don't run from the police while holding said weapon.

These guys were undercover- how would he be able to trust that they were really cops?

[Cleaner44]

So we have a right to bear arms... but not a right to bear replicas of arms?

[Mani]

So we have a right to bear arms... but not a right to bear replicas of arms?

Correct. and when two people dressed as plain clothed citizens start chasing you, you better not run or make any sudden movements, especially if they say they are cops.

And when they tell you to drop the gun, and you proceed to take it out to drop it, you should know you are going to get shot for following orders/scaring cops over their safety at the same time.

All 13 year olds should already know this.

[jllundqu]

These guys were undercover- how would he be able to trust that they were really cops?

Ah.... I didn't know they were undercover. This does change my analysis. Your point is 100% valid.

THanks.

[heavenlyboy34]

These guys were undercover- how would he be able to trust that they were really cops?

We must not question them. They're brave soliders who feared for their lives, obviously. Be a Good American(TM) and recognize their Heroism Under Stress(TM), comrade.

[fisharmor]

Correct. and when two people dressed as plain clothed citizens start chasing you, you better not run or make any sudden movements, especially if they say they are cops.

And when they tell you to drop the gun, and you proceed to take it out to drop it, you should know you are going to get shot for following orders/scaring cops over their safety at the same time.

All 13 year olds should already know this.

And if you don't have a replica at all, and the BALTIMORE COPS take you in anyway, you can expect to be handcuffed behind your back, shoved in the back of a van, and driven around at high speed around corners until you break your neck.

Do these people seriously think the average human being is completely incapable of storing memories for more than a year????????

[jkr]

Burnt down
...and take the Ravens too

[Brian4Liberty]

People often talk about the "good old days". What were the "good old days" like?

IIRC, kids could run around the neighborhood with realistic cap guns and pop guns, hiding in bushes and behind trees, "shooting" each other and any other unsuspecting passer-by. It was considered harmless fun. Older kids could walk around with BB-guns or .22 rifles, heading out to the open spaces.

Today, we have cops who are ex-soldiers with PTSD fresh from a war-zone where everyone is a potential enemy combatant to be exterminated on sight at the slightest twitch or miscue.

The "good old days", myth or truly a better time?

[heavenlyboy34]

People often talk about the "good old days". What were the "good old days" like?

IIRC, kids could run around the neighborhood with realistic cap guns and pop guns, hiding in bushes and behind trees, "shooting" each other and any other unsuspecting passer-by. It was considered harmless fun. Older kids could walk around with BB-guns or .22 rifles, heading out to the open spaces.

Today, we have cops who are ex-soldiers with PTSD fresh from a war-zone where everyone is a potential enemy combatant to be exterminated on sight at the slightest twitch or miscue.

The "good old days", myth or truly a better time?

Almost. In "serious" places like airports and such it was best to make sure there was an orange tip on the end of the barell so everyone knew it was a toy. Even back in the 80s and 90s airport screeners didn't know the difference between cap guns/some water guns and real guns, so they had to be shown to the screener. True story.

[fisharmor]

People often talk about the "good old days". What were the "good old days" like?

Here's what the "good old days" were like:

It's pretty well known that Freddie Gray got what the police call a "nickel ride".
It's less well known that they originally called it this because it reminded the cops of dodgy amusement park rides that cost a nickel.

And the things nobody has ever stopped to consider since we heard about Freddie Gray are....

When, exactly, did amusement park rides cost a single nickel?

The police "nickel ride" has to have been invented, at the latest, in the 1940s. That's the last time you'd see rides costing a nickel.

There's more to the story, though. If cops had stopped doing that in the 1940s, when rides stopped costing a nickel, then whoever resurrected the idea would have come up with a contemporary name for it.

No, it continued, all the way through 2015. So we're looking at a MINIMUM of 60 years of police doing this to people and passing the practice down to other police. Generations of police passing on the fine tradition of breaking necks in the back of paddy wagons.

Being ex-soldiers has nothing to do with it. Being fresh from a war zone has nothing to do with it. This is institutional.

[Brian4Liberty]

Being ex-soldiers has nothing to do with it. Being fresh from a war zone has nothing to do with it. This is institutional.

It's all of the above.

[pcosmar]

oh and don't run from the police while holding said weapon toy.

The kid ran from a known threat.

Why were the police bothering a kid with a toy?

Further evidence of why Police should not exist,, and should not be allowed to exist.

[FindLiberty]

The "good old days", myth or truly a better time?

Better time.

Late 1950's after WWII ...before color TV

[phill4paul]

People often talk about the "good old days". What were the "good old days" like?

IIRC, kids could run around the neighborhood with realistic cap guns and pop guns, hiding in bushes and behind trees, "shooting" each other and any other unsuspecting passer-by. It was considered harmless fun. Older kids could walk around with BB-guns or .22 rifles, heading out to the open spaces.

Today, we have cops who are ex-soldiers with PTSD fresh from a war-zone where everyone is a potential enemy combatant to be exterminated on sight at the slightest twitch or miscue.

The "good old days", myth or truly a better time?

'70's. Played w/ all the above. Never got shot by a cop. True story.

[presence]

two plainclothes detectives spotted the replica handgun, identified themselves as officers and approached the boy.

The only time you can shoot someone running away with a gun is if they are known to be engaged in a felony.

That doesn't apply here.

[presence]

Sorry the boy was hurt, but you play with replicas that look identical to real weapons... expect a similar result.... oh and don't run from the police while holding said weapon.

where did it say he was brandishing it?

police don't get to shoot innocent people just because they're holding a gun or running away... what crime did he commit before they began chasing him?

[Ronin Truth]

Go home and tell your parents to care enough about you to not let you do stupid stuff, kid.

[Mani]

People often talk about the "good old days". What were the "good old days" like?

IIRC, kids could run around the neighborhood with realistic cap guns and pop guns, hiding in bushes and behind trees, "shooting" each other and any other unsuspecting passer-by. It was considered harmless fun. Older kids could walk around with BB-guns or .22 rifles, heading out to the open spaces.

Today, we have cops who are ex-soldiers with PTSD fresh from a war-zone where everyone is a potential enemy combatant to be exterminated on sight at the slightest twitch or miscue.

The "good old days", myth or truly a better time?

My dad bought a few of the below for my birthday and my bro, and we used to run around the neighborhood playing with all the neighborhood kids with these shooting each other.

We weren't gunned down by a SWAT TEAM either.

There was also no orange tip!

Today we probably wouldn't have made it passed 12 years old.

FYI the ammo was long rubber bands stretched over the 5 white plastic parts. Not that it would matter, since nowadays a shiny belt buckle or garden hose could be enough to be confused with a weapon and justify a shooting.