Deputies Kill Teen Carrying Toy Gun – How Could That Happen?

Today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that a 13 year old boy was shot and killed by sheriff’s deputies while carrying a plastic toy replica of an AK-47. When spotted with the ‘weapon’ by two deputies, the youth was ordered to drop the weapon. When he refused to follow their orders he was shot and killed.

In the print edition of the paper the boy’s mother questioned:

Why did they kill him? Why?

I can’t imagine the horror his family and friends and fellow students are going through. But here are two reasons why police feared for their lives and why they opened fire on a thirteen year old with a particularly realistic toy gun:

Also from today’s MJS:

A well-liked teacher was found slain in woods behind this quiet Massachusetts town’s high school, and a 14-year-old boy who was found walking along a state highway overnight was charged with killing her.

And from JSOnline from October 22, 2013:

Students cowered in fear and pleaded for their lives as a 12-year-old Nevada boy went on a schoolyard rampage with a handgun he brought from home, waving the weapon at frightened classmates and shooting a math teacher in the chest on a basketball court.

How much more collateral damage do we have to have before we get serious about gun control?

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9 thoughts on “Deputies Kill Teen Carrying Toy Gun – How Could That Happen?

  1. Good question, Ed. What I can say is that 1 or two shot down at a time doesn’t do it. Nor 7, nor 27. It’s sick.

  2. As long as the Democrats are more afraid of the gun lobby than their own base, the answer is never. The gun lobby is perfectly content to watch people die and offer vague condolences and then blame anyone but themselves. The lack of conviction from the elected leaders on the Left is incredibly discouraging.

  3. 1st story: explain how any background check, banning assault weapons or any “gun control” would have prevented it?

    2nd story: the cause of death was not even released! What if it was a stabbing? You and I and nearly everyone else have no idea the cause of death. It’s also illegal for a 14 year old to own a gun, or have a gun on school property. How well does that gun control law work?

    3rd story: I blame the parents and the kid, not the gun. If you know your child isn’t responsible enough to be able to handle a gun, they shouldn’t have access to them. I knew where the 2 shotguns, the 3 deer rifles, and the 2 loaded handguns in my house were by age 8. I was taught gun safety and had no problems with a gun at all. Once again it is illegal for a 12 year old to carry a handgun, and illegal to possess on school grounds. Once again your laws didn’t prevent these tragedies, and any new law wouldn’t have prevented it either.

    1. Rick, I expected that some readers wouldn’t make the connections…so here goes:

      1) you miss the point…because gun violence by teenagers is sufficiently prevalent, a police officer can’t assume a realistic toy isn’t a real weapon…and unfortunately this incident turned deadly as a result. The next two articles support that supposition.

      2) we don’t know the cause of death yet…but this just supports the reality that a police officer can’t assume that a 13 year old isn’t capable of homicide simply because they are…well…13 years old.

      3) and again I am making the point that police officers can’t assume that a youngster with a ‘gun’ is benign just because they are 12 years old.

      And because existing laws didn’t prevent these tragedies doesn’t mean we should throw up our hands and give up. If there are means to save lives via controls, laws, and full fledged background checks…saving that life or those lives is worth it.

  4. We need to get serious about Affordable Health Care!

    Since parents are avoiding the churches these days, regular doctor visits could be a source of preventable mental illness and consistency that is lacking in many young modern families.

  5. We need better and more Affordable Health Care!

    Since parents are ignoring the churches these days, perhaps regular doctor’s visits could provide some of the mature guidance and consistency that is lacking in so many American family homes.

  6. Am going back to IE as default browser. Chrome just isn’t reliable enough on BB, thought much better on fb. Sorry for the dual posts.

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