Arizona officer kills teen boy carrying replica gun – By Associated Press (The Guardian) / Jan 17 2019
Tempe police say the boy burglarized a car and made a threatening move as police chased him, prompting an officer to shoot
Police in a Phoenix suburb say a burglary suspect shot to death by an officer earlier this week was a 14-year-old boy carrying a replica gun.
Officers in the city of Tempe on Tuesday chased a suspect they believed burglarized a car and ran away holding what appeared to be a handgun, authorities say.
During the chase, the suspect turned toward the officers, police say. One officer perceived that move as a threat and shot the suspect. The boy died at a local hospital.
On Wednesday, police said the teen had a replica 1911 airsoft gun in his possession, which they determined he had taken from a vehicle along with some other items.
They say the shooting was captured on the officer’s body camera. The police department did not immediately respond to a request by the Associated Press for access to the video.
The name of the teen and the officer who opened fire have not been released.
But the ABC15 Arizona station interviewed a man and a woman identified as the boy’s brother and mother, who said they wanted police to explain what happened.
“A police officer has a Taser gun right? Why not shoot a Taser at him?” the boy’s brother, Jason Gonzales, said. “He sees a young boy, my brother wouldn’t shoot. I know he wouldn’t shoot,” he added.
Speaking through a Spanish interpreter, the teen’s mother, Sandra 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,” she said. “No. I won’t allow it, I want justice.”
A Facebook page believed to be the teen’s shows photographs of a baby-faced boy with a peach-fuzz mustache, a few snaps with relatives and friends and a big, green truck. Friends of the family were putting together a GoFundMe page to pay for the teen’s funeral costs.
The department said it will conduct its investigation in conjunction with the Maricopa county attorney’s office, as is customary in officer-involved shootings.
A self-described socialist group rallied Wednesday night in Tempe to draw attention to the case.
“We want to bring an end to the police brutality in Maricopa county and lock up killer cops,” said activist Alexia Isais. “We are demanding that police be held accountable for the killings they are committing, mostly against unarmed, marginalized people.”
Since the beginning of the year, there has been at least one other police shooting that killed a teen in Maricopa county.
Earlier this month, a Phoenix police officer shot and killed 19-year-old Jacob Michael Harris after surveillance officers reportedly saw him and three others carry out an armed robbery. Police say they were watching the group because they were suspects in several other robberies.
Also this month, an officer in the Phoenix suburb of Peoria shot and wounded a 17-year-old boy after getting a call about a robbery at an auto supply store. Officers said the teen had a gun. He was shot in the shoulder.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/17/arizona-police-shooting-boy-gun-burglary-suspect
