A 14-year-old boy is dead after a police officer fatally shot the teen who was in possession of a replica airsoft gun. What are the detai...
A 14-year-old boy is dead after a police officer fatally shot the teen who was in possession of a replica airsoft gun.
What are the details?
The incident took place Tuesday, when an unnamed male police officer with the Tempe, Arizona, Police Department responded to a call of a suspicious vehicle in the area.
When the officer arrived at the scene, he reportedly caught a person in the act of burglarizing a vehicle in the area.
According to KTAR-TV, the officer approached the suspect, who was apparently inside the vehicle at that point.
The suspect — later identified as a 14-year-old Antonio Race — exited the vehicle through the passenger side and took off. The officer observed that the suspect was holding what appeared to be a weapon.
The officer pursued the teen on foot and demanded the teen stop. The station reported that "during the chase, the officer perceived a threat and shot the suspect."
The suspect continued to run and collapsed in a nearby alley.
Authorities discovered the teen a short time later and transported him to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The item that appeared to be a weapon was actually a "replica 1911 model airsoft gun."
Officers believe that the teen took the airsoft gun from the vehicle that he was reportedly burglarizing. Airsoft guns look like real firearms but shoot pellets typically made of plastic.
What else?
CBS News reported that the incident was recorded on the officer's body camera.
Retired police Sgt. Kevin Boontjer told the outlet, "This is unfortunately a situation that the officer is going to have to live with forever. They're going to carry some issues with them now that they know it wasn't an actual firearm. However, they're doing exactly what they're supposed to do by policy and procedure in their training with the police department."
Boontjer said that it was "impossible" to train someone to spot the difference between a real weapon and a fake one.
"It really doesn't change the dynamics of the event from the officer's perspective unfortunately," he said. "It is impossible to train someone on what is a real weapon and a fake weapon. It's just impossible."
Typically, replica and toy guns bear an orange tip to differentiate between real and fake. Boontjer said that people often remove the tips or paint over them to make them appear more realistic than they actually are.
Even with an orange tip, it can be hard to discern between the two, the retired sergeant added.
"Let's say that the gun did have the orange tip on it. You're running, your vision is bouncing, you can't keep normal vision as you're running, and you're trying to, again, assess a hundred different pieces of information as you're running," he explained to CBS. "And when we train these officers for these lethal force situations, we can't teach them to look at something so microscopic as an orange dot that is bouncing around, that could be facing away from them as the suspect is running away."
An investigation into the incident is ongoing.
What has the teen's family said about the incident?
Jason Gonzalez, the teen's brother, told KNXV-TV, "I just know he's doing better, in a better place now."
"A police officer has a Taser gun right? Why not shoot a Taser at him? He sees a young boy, my brother wouldn't shoot. I know he wouldn't shoot," Gonzalez wept.
"My brother, I feel like he got scared at the moment, started running," Gonzalez added.
Antonio Race's mother, Sandra Gonzalez, said that she wants justice for her son's death.
Through a translator, Gonzalez said, "If they want to tarnish my son, they are wrong. Apart from the fact that they killed him, they want to destroy him. No. I won't allow it, I want justice."
A video report from KNXV added that the teen's family wasn't allowed to see the teen's body in order to identify it.
The station's Nicole Valdes said, "One thing [Race's family] mentioned was that investigators did not even allow his own family to see his body. [The family] said [investigators] actually brought out a photo of him taken inside the morgue for them to identify."
What are the details?
The incident took place Tuesday, when an unnamed male police officer with the Tempe, Arizona, Police Department responded to a call of a suspicious vehicle in the area.
When the officer arrived at the scene, he reportedly caught a person in the act of burglarizing a vehicle in the area.
According to KTAR-TV, the officer approached the suspect, who was apparently inside the vehicle at that point.
The suspect — later identified as a 14-year-old Antonio Race — exited the vehicle through the passenger side and took off. The officer observed that the suspect was holding what appeared to be a weapon.
The officer pursued the teen on foot and demanded the teen stop. The station reported that "during the chase, the officer perceived a threat and shot the suspect."
The suspect continued to run and collapsed in a nearby alley.
Authorities discovered the teen a short time later and transported him to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The item that appeared to be a weapon was actually a "replica 1911 model airsoft gun."
Officers believe that the teen took the airsoft gun from the vehicle that he was reportedly burglarizing. Airsoft guns look like real firearms but shoot pellets typically made of plastic.
What else?
CBS News reported that the incident was recorded on the officer's body camera.
Retired police Sgt. Kevin Boontjer told the outlet, "This is unfortunately a situation that the officer is going to have to live with forever. They're going to carry some issues with them now that they know it wasn't an actual firearm. However, they're doing exactly what they're supposed to do by policy and procedure in their training with the police department."
Boontjer said that it was "impossible" to train someone to spot the difference between a real weapon and a fake one.
"It really doesn't change the dynamics of the event from the officer's perspective unfortunately," he said. "It is impossible to train someone on what is a real weapon and a fake weapon. It's just impossible."
Typically, replica and toy guns bear an orange tip to differentiate between real and fake. Boontjer said that people often remove the tips or paint over them to make them appear more realistic than they actually are.
Even with an orange tip, it can be hard to discern between the two, the retired sergeant added.
"Let's say that the gun did have the orange tip on it. You're running, your vision is bouncing, you can't keep normal vision as you're running, and you're trying to, again, assess a hundred different pieces of information as you're running," he explained to CBS. "And when we train these officers for these lethal force situations, we can't teach them to look at something so microscopic as an orange dot that is bouncing around, that could be facing away from them as the suspect is running away."
An investigation into the incident is ongoing.
What has the teen's family said about the incident?
Jason Gonzalez, the teen's brother, told KNXV-TV, "I just know he's doing better, in a better place now."
"A police officer has a Taser gun right? Why not shoot a Taser at him? He sees a young boy, my brother wouldn't shoot. I know he wouldn't shoot," Gonzalez wept.
"My brother, I feel like he got scared at the moment, started running," Gonzalez added.
Antonio Race's mother, Sandra Gonzalez, said that she wants justice for her son's death.
Through a translator, Gonzalez said, "If they want to tarnish my son, they are wrong. Apart from the fact that they killed him, they want to destroy him. No. I won't allow it, I want justice."
A video report from KNXV added that the teen's family wasn't allowed to see the teen's body in order to identify it.
The station's Nicole Valdes said, "One thing [Race's family] mentioned was that investigators did not even allow his own family to see his body. [The family] said [investigators] actually brought out a photo of him taken inside the morgue for them to identify."
They want justice? oh my child would never do anything like that, he was a good boy...sad
ReplyDeleteSucks to be STUPID .....
ReplyDelete14 year old boys are still very much a child, and they think as a child. The policeman most likely did not realize the bad guy was a child. This is just a sad mistake by both.
ReplyDeleteThe kid broke into a car and stole someone's air soft gun. He wanted it bad enough to die for it....so why is everyone making such a big deal about this? Had he been in a muslim country his hand would have been chopped off for stealing...... He ran...his mistake.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure he was in the choir as well....and was a good son to his mama..... and he was AMAZING!!! Aren't they ALL amazing once they're dead?
ReplyDeleteWell, he won't be making that dumb mistake again in a big hurry.
ReplyDeleteWhy can't we get air soft crap off the market totally? Oh, that's right.....we have the Second Amendment....but the orange tips can be painted over or removed too easily. They need to retool these airsoft look alikes and make them look DIFFERENT from real guns..... but that would be too easy....
ReplyDeleteWe've got to give "kids" vests with the words "I'm 14" on the back so cops know how old they are...or just teach our kids NOT to STEAL.....but most parents don't teach that to kids these days....they are too busy teaching them to be trannys or faggots....!!!
ReplyDeleteMost kids who wind up like this one did, are from completely dysfunctional families. I don't blame the cop, nor the kid, I blame our current permissive culture that feel like the stupid idea of "single mother homes" are a good thing. This culture leads youngsters to a "thugs life" concept, idealized by the "hip hop idols".
ReplyDeleteYep hip hop RAP that teaches the kids to kill the cops and to steal and do drugs is overly glamorized by jew owned and run Death Row Records..... the single mother excuse is overworked...our permissive society that lets the daddies go free while the woman is stuck with the kids is courtesy of the JWO....out to destroy the family unit and our country and our values.....
ReplyDeleteYum-yow = Same-Same
ReplyDeleteTrump just keeps on winning, but dont worship him, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHdz8cwnKsY
ReplyDeleteAirsoft replicas look very convincing. The are supposed to have an orange tip to advertise that they are not real firearms, but if that's been painted over or not visible, bad things can happen.
ReplyDeleteBoy breaks into car (allegedly), runs from police officer, is carrying what looks exactly like a 45 caliber handgun, gets shot and killed by officer. Maybe his parents should have spent more time raising him properly so he wasn't out ruining other people's lives.
That's the government's story.
ReplyDeleteYa'll seem to forget that this was a FOURTEEN YEAR OLD BOY!!!!! Is theft really a EXECUTABLE offense in this country now? I have read comments all over Arizona and the coldness I read is what is SAD. Do any of you people remember being 14? This CHILD may have been "burglarizing cars" but this country is still founded on the system where WE THE PEOPLE are INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY. This CHILD was MURDERED. I don't care if he RAN...he was a human being....our instinct is to RUN. He was shot in the BACK. The comments are what are truly reprehensible.....and this country has a RACIST problem. This CHILD was of HISPANIC background....and I can tell you that Arizona....especially outside of Phoenix.....has a problem with Hispanics. MUCH more problematic is that ARIZONA has a REAL problem with trigger happy cops.....
ReplyDelete