Cops Say Teen Pointed Toy Gun at Them Before They Shot Him to Death

Witnesses dispute their account

SANTA ROSA, Calif. — Dozens of people marched through the Santa Rosa neighborhood where a 13 year old boy was shot and killed by one of two Sonoma County sheriff's deputies, after the deputies mistakenly thought the toy rifle was a real assault weapon.

Santa Rosa Police, who are handling the shooting investigation, say the deputies stopped their marked patrol car on Moorland Avenue Tuesday afternoon at 3:14 and told Andy Lopez twice to put down the gun.

Police say Lopez had their backs to the deputies, who didn't realize he was so young.

Instead, they say, Lopez turned with the barrel of the gun pointing toward them.

Comments

[Gindjurra]

When people in California talk about gun control laws, police are consummate professionals, highly trained experts who are far more qualified in all matters relating to firearms than any mere private citizen.

But when police gun down children in error, those same people will talk about how police can't be expected to be absolutely competent professionals, how hard it is to properly identify toy guns (despite all the laws about orange tips and wild colors in California), how police are only human and holding them to a higher standard is so unfair to them...

If they are no more qualified than any other citizen to handle firearms or know when to shoot and when not to shoot, why does California restrict possession of firearms in public places to police again?