23 Nov
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The McGlynn: Damn them to hell!
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Attorney: ‘We’re ultimately going to find out what happened’
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Officer responding to 911 call about ‘probably fake’ gun fired twice
A 12-year-old boy carrying what turned out to be a replica gun died on Sunday after he was shot twice by a Cleveland police officer responding to a 911 call about a person waving a gun in a park.
Deputy Cleveland police chief Ed Tomba said the officer fired twice after the boy pulled the fake weapon – which was lacking an orange safety indicator usually on the muzzle – from his waistband. The boy did not make any verbal threats toward the officer or point the gun, but reached into his waistband and grabbed it after being told to raise his hands, Tomba said.
“That’s when the officer fired,” he said.
Police said the weapon was an “airsoft” type replica gun that resembled a semi-automatic pistol. The orange safety indicator had been removed, police said.
A man who called 911 told dispatchers before police arrived that the boy was on a swing set and pointing a pistol that was “probably fake” and scaring everyone. The caller said the boy was pulling the gun in and out of his pants.
“I don’t know if it’s real or not,” the caller said.
Jeff Follmer, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association, said the officers were not told the caller thought the gun might be fake. The officer called to the park saw the pistol sitting on a table, and watched the boy grab it and put it in his waistband, Follmer said.
The hospital where the boy died and an attorney for his family would not release his name on Sunday.
Attorney Timothy Kucharski said the boy went to the park with friends on Saturday afternoon, but he did not know the details of what led to the shooting.
“I don’t want to make a rush to judgment,” he said, adding that he wanted to talk to witnesses and get more facts.
“We’re ultimately going to find out what happened,” Kucharski said.
The 12-year-old boy had been sitting with his friends at a pavilion at the Cudell Recreation Center, Deputy Chief of Field Operations Ed Tomba told Cleveland.com. A concerned man watching from across the street called police to report the gun-wielding child, asserting on his 911 call that the gun was “probably fake” and that the “man” with the gun was “probably a juvenile.” Responding officers allegedly were never relayed information about the 911 caller’s doubt.
The officer got out of the car and told the boy to put his hands up. The boy reached into his waistband, pulled out the gun and the rookie officer fired two shots, Tomba said.
Tomba said the child did not threaten the officer verbally or physically.
At least one of the shots hit the child in the stomach.
The boy was rushed to the hospital, where he was in critical condition until Sunday morning, when he died from the gunshot wound. The officer and his fifteen-year veteran partner who arrived at the scene with him were both put on administrative leave during the investigation.
[Image via Cleveland.com]
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on Sunday, November 23rd, 2014 at 3:44 pm and is filed under Police Brutality.
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