Cleveland Police Shoot 12-Year-Old Boy Holding Toy Gun; Child In 'Serious' Condition
UPDATE 11:14 a.m.: The 12-year-old Cleveland boy shot by police has died, a representative from the Cleveland police union confirmed to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The boy, whose name has still not been released, died at MetroHealth Medical Center Sunday morning.
A police officer in Cleveland shot a 12-year-old boy who pulled a realistic-looking toy gun from his waistband Saturday. The boy, who was shot in the stomach, was in “serious condition” and undergoing surgery.
The shooting took place outside Cudell Recreation Center around 3.30 p.m. after officers responded to reports of a man with a gun, the Associated Press reported.
The officers responding to the report saw a group of people sitting outside the rec center and a black gun on a table in front of them. The boy picked up the gun and put it in his waistband. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer description of the incident, one officer told the boy who had picked up the gun to raise his hands, after which the boy grabbed the gun from his waistband. An officer then fired two shots, one of which hit the boy in the stomach.
WOIO-TV, Cleveland, reported the weapon was subsequently determined to be an “airsoft”-type replica, and an orange safety indicator clip that normally would be around the muzzle had been removed.
Cleveland crime reporter Cory Shaffer tweeted a picture released by Cleveland police of the weapon.
The shooting comes just days after a New York police officer shot and killed an unarmed man in Brooklyn in what police described as an “accident.”
The use of lethal force by police has come under scrutiny in recent months, following the shooting of black teenager Michael Brown by Ferguson, Missouri, Police Officer Darren Wilson Aug. 9. A grand jury's decision on whether Wilson should be indicted over the killing is expected in the coming days.
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