No doubt the kid was scared to death of the cops because of all the horror stories we have been reading about. That’s why he ran. One more reason why community policing is a better idea then intimation tactics
Apparently the officer is either a bad shot or he didn’t shoot to kill. We will find out in the days ahead.
One’s gotta train like a fanatic to be accurate with a pistol. I have practiced a lot in my younger years and got pretty good at hitting paper targets. Now I couldn’t hit much of anything. What I’m clumsily trying to say is pistols are not all that accurate. The kid was lucky he survived. And yep, the details will come out in days to come.
Hows stupid must a parent be to allow a 13 year old to have a replica gun at all? Then the parent allows him to him wander around the streets with it?
Though I’ve ranted against the police many times, from the info that is presented in the TPM article, the fault rests 100% with the parent.
The kid deserved to be shot, because Real Patriots™ use real guns. Just ask the NRA! Of course, given that his gun was a replica, it would have been appropriate to shoot him with replica bullets.
Body cam footage? Body cams turned on?
Yeah, you’re right, of course. And I was just about to give the officer partial credit for not shooting to kill…
Why did they shoot him? Don’t the Republicans want to make it a requirement that we all open carry a gun at all times?
Times have changed (well, in some ways). As a kid I treasured my “replica” .45 automatic. Clip, even shot spring-loaded grey plastic bullets. Didn’t carry it outside much, because those little pieces of plastic were hell to find after they’d been fired.
I have three thoughts on this:
(1) Some of these replica guns are very realistic, and this is not the first time this has happened. As far as I know, the 2nd amendment doesn’t say anything about the right to bear fake arms, so there should be no constitutional barrier to banning their manufacture or sale. Politically, it may be a lot harder, although I can’t think of any strong argument for why they shouldn’t be banned.
(2) Even if the gun looked authentic, I’d like to know just how much time elapsed between when they told him to drop the gun and when they shot him. I assume if he was actually pointing the gun at the cops we would have heard that claim by now. I am sympathetic to how tough a situation this can be for cops, and maybe this was unavoidable and the cops gave the kid plenty of time to drop the gun and legitimately feared they were about to be shot at. But I don’t have enough information to form a solid opinion on that.
(3) Assuming this kid survives, one thing that will make this case inherently different from many other cases is that the kid will (presumably) be able to give his side of the story to investigators.
Well they didn’t shot him as soon as they saw him, but wait a few minutes. God damn what is it with white cops and black folks. It’s just like a free pass knowing that they will never be accused and every one else will get blamed, like his mother how dare she let her black son care anything that even looked close to a gun. Doesn’t she know know cops just have to shoot black males with gun like things on sight? Unfucking believable, except it happens all the fucking time.
“Why did a 13-year-old have a replica pistol in his hand?” Davis said.
“I don’t know why he chose to run, why he didn’t drop the gun.”
Hello! And Welcome to Remedial Society 101. We’ll be answering three easy questions today, as seen above:
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Why did a 13-year-old have a replica pistol in his hand? Because America is in love with guns. We glorify them as symbols of power and security and fetishize them as a mandatory part of American life.
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Why he chose to run? Because he knows cops will shoot a child without hesitation or provocation.
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Why he didn’t drop the gun? Likely because he’s 13, stupid, and panicked.
Class dismissed.
Here’s a picture of the gun provided by the Baltimore Police.
