On Tuesday afternoon, Andy Lopez was walking home from his friend’s house, toy gun in hand, when a sheriff’s deputy spotted him – and the AK-47 look-alike – from behind.
From there, everything unfolded in a matter of seconds.
The deputy and his partner, who were out on regular patrol duty, pulled over their car and took cover behind the vehicle’s doors, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office.
The patrol car’s overhead light and siren were activated, and law enforcement twice ordered Andy, who was about 20 to 30 feet away, to drop the gun, one witness said, according to an Associated Press report.
Andy began to turn around in the direction of the deputies, barrel of the rifle rising up, one officer said.
Seven bullets struck the young teenager. Sixteen seconds later, the officers called for medial attention, according to Reuters.
Andy died at the scene, and what was thought to be an assault weapon turned out to be a plastic replica, officers discovered.
The trademark orange tip that federal law requires toy-gun manufacturers to place on the ends of fake guns was missing from the pellet gun, law enforcement reported. Also, a toy handgun was found in Andy’s waistband, but it had the orange tip.
Police officers have to make snap decisions about a potentially dangerous situation, and this is certainly NOT the first toy gun toting child who has been shot to death by law enforcement, and sadly it will probably not be the last.
I really feel for these police officers who must be torn up over such a terrible incident, and while I also feel badly for his parents I am equally angry that they allowed him to take these realistic looking guns out into the streets.
In my home the children were NEVER allowed to play with guns that resembled real guns in any way. I would allow brightly painted squirt guns, and Nerf guns, but that was the extent of it, and it was for this very reason.
Part me almost wishes that the victim of this shooting were somebody more deserving.
This one honestly tears at me. This is one of the few instances I don't blame the police. They told him to drop his weapon multiple times before he turned around and that is when the officer shot him. I can't blame them.
ReplyDeleteAnd as for playing with these outside Gryphen, the rule in his family was inside only. The shame of this all is that the kid was walking a few blocks to play inside at his friends house.
These are called Airsoft guns. Plastic pellets. Only an idiot would use one inside, or without eye protection.
DeleteCanada requires that they be made completely of clear plastic.
In my opinion, only an idiot would purchase on eof these for their child, or allow them to carry it around outside without the orange tip that might have saved this boy's life. Happy now, NRA? Another child gone.
DeleteAnon at 8:05 am. Canadians are light years ahead of us in many ways.
DeleteBeaglemom
Ain't that the truth, Beaglemom!
DeleteWhat if he was deaf??
Delete"What if he was deaf??"
DeleteTHE MORE REASON FOR HIM to either NOT have such a toy, or to make sure it is LEGAL - WITH the orange trigger!!!
I feel sorry for the cops...
9:57- how do you know they didnt remove the orange cap after realizing they over-reacted and killed a harmless kid? do you think such a thing has never happened?
DeleteVery sad story. Manufacturers simply should not be allowed to do this and, if the NRA were a responsible organization, its leaders would spearhead a movement to keep toy guns from looking so much like real ones.
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
Yeah, because the problem is with toys, not real guns. FACEPALM!
DeleteGryph, you and I are normally on the same page. Not this time. First, this was a 13 year old. In my mind this is a CHILD. Second, that the cops automatically went into a defensive posture. Latino. Gun. Red alert. He was doing nothing threatening, nothing alarming aside from carrying a toy weapon. Third, witnesses say that the police DID NOT give him time to respond but almost immediately opened fire. Local reporting through the link http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/north_bay&id=9302840.
ReplyDeleteDon't believe everything you read in the Christian Science Monitor.
13 y o? So WHAT? I have a 14 y o who is 5'10". He is "average" for his age. How the fuck do you tell a 5'10" 13 y o from a 5'10" 23 y o at a distance? Add in a few deadly shootings recently by young teens and you have a problem.
DeleteNot to mention - someone took the safety orange tip off the end off this gun - BIG No no.
Delete8:12... the orange tip could have been removed at anytime by anyone.... the other toy gun on him had it on... wonder who removed that plastic tip from the one he was holding and when?.... sure does helps the cops story though doesnt it?
Deleteas much as i agree with many of your posts and comments here at IM, this is one of those where i feel like you are living in backwards world. the veteran cop who shot and killed the kid needs to be investigated... this case looks like homicide. the fbi are already looking at it.
Deletebtw- im fairly neutral on gun control, but this story kind of goes against gun control theory, if there were no open carry laws- the police would not have any reason to take any note of the kid at all if he wasn't breaking any laws. and to somehow link this to 2nd amendment rights advocates could not be any more ridiculous.
Witnesses say the cop fired when the victim started to turn around. Sorry, but the kid should have dropped it. And BTW I am not white. BTW there are many 13 year old shooters in Oakland.
DeleteNot sure why, but the guys who go out in public with real assault rifles slung over their shoulders all look like major wussies.
ReplyDeleteCool sneakers dude.
to Anon at 7:52 what would you think if you saw a young man walking down the street with a non-orange-tipped assault rifle? would you call the cops? what if he had a pistol also stuck in his waistband. what would you think? and what if the neighborhood was already known as a gang zone? what would you think?
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about the orange tip on toy guns. Frankly I don't think that these tips are adequate; they are probably taken off by most of the kids who have them. The fake weapons should have to be totally identifiable to one and all as toys.
DeleteBeaglemom
Must Read!!!!!!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/2013/10/29/opinion/moore-sarah-palin-trump/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29
O/T But a must read!!!
ReplyDelete"Politically, Sarah Palin is an opposite gender version of Donald Trump. She makes grandiloquent statements about candidacies and a future that she knows will never transpire."
http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/29/opinion/moore-sarah-palin-trump/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29
GREAT article! The patients at the Asylum must be screaming and tearing off their clothes in RAGE about it!! LMAO!!
DeleteRemember last week CNN wrote a piece about the bald fella and the patients thought it was favorable to the old dirty hag...but this one...NOPE..it's ripping her to shreds from top to bottom!
Note the guy who wrote it also wrote about Turd Blossom...me thinks ole Karl's ghostwriter and RAM are about to get into a BIG ass ghostwriter off!
RAM....hey RAM...ya betta bring your A game for this challenge!
ROFLMAO!!!
Regardless of the typos, I love this comment that was left there:-
DeleteName • 4 minutes ago −
There shoudl be a litmus test to detrmine eligibility to vote.
first ballot you get to chose between Palin and the ginger bread man.If you pick Palin, you are not allowed to cast an actual ballot
LOVE this: "she has neither the INTELLECT nor popular support outside the increasingly unpopular tea party." Boy, if THAT ain't the truth!
Delete"She might not understand politics or policy, but Palin knows money."
DeleteBingo.And THAT'S what her idiot groupies don't fathom.
"...you have to believe that the number of these assholes roaming the streets in order to bait the cops, and then post the video of the confrontation up on YouTube to impress their 2nd Amendment buddies, has put many in the law enforcement community on edge."
ReplyDeleteIs there evidence to rule out that this "baiting" behavior was the intent of the victim?
Is there evidence to rule out that this "baiting" behavior was the intent of the victim?
DeleteWhatever answer Anonymous 9:23 AM has in mind, it's irrelevant to the actions of the officer concerned. The baiting behaviour occurred over the past weeks and months. The state of being on edge doesn't suddenly go away if there's been an hour or a day without baiting behaviour.
On the other hand, it should be relevant to the baiters that innocent parties suffer—but they probably don't agree.
Not in this case. The young man was walking to a friends house. But he did not listen when the deputy told him to drop the weapon and unfortunately the result is a dead kid. But the Oakland law enforcement does deal with young and automatic weapons all the time, I can see why they treated this as a threat when he turned around with the weapon, they didn't know it was a toy.
DeleteThis is tragic. The only thing that would make it worse would e if you also told me he was deaf and couldn't hear the officers.
ReplyDeleteHorrible
In my home we were taught to obey the directions of all adults, especially police officers, immediately without question. Had that happened to any one of us, we would have dropped the gun immediately, frozen in place and waited for further instructions.
ReplyDeleteYes, the orange tip was removed. And the orange tip of the gun in the pants couldn't be seen. But the underlying cause of this young man's death was poor parenting. Parents that either didn't teach him to obey the police or who taught him to DISOBEY police.
It is not unusual for a 13 year old to be a gang member and have a real pistol in his waistband and carry a real gun.
I do not sympathize with the parents at all.
I fully stand by the decisions of these police officers.
The tragedy is that they have to live with the consequences of parents who will undoubtably take them to court and sue them for wrongful death.
How about the gun manufacturers make toy guns completely out of orange plastic. No black or grey. How about we make it illegal to make a toy gun look anything like a real gun? (I'd say stop making toy guns but you know the NRA would be all over that.)
I just have to say that you're a real piece of crap. How the fuck do you even know what happened? It was over in SECONDS! How do you know he made a conscious effort to disobey the police? You don't! You just make shit up! Ever think the kid panicked? Ever think he was raising it to show them that it was fake? Kids use and show bad judgement every day and they don't deserve to die for it!
DeleteI don't blame the cops either but to blame the parents? What a great person you must be. Hope you're proud of yourself attacking poor grieving parents. You're a disgusting asshole in case you didn't already know.
Well, you're a real peach, aren't you. Not only devoid of empathy, but self-righteous as well.
DeleteEver hear of the Stanley Milgram experiments? You remind me of those people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airsoft#Legal_restrictions
ReplyDeleteThis happened in my neck of the woods in N.Cali. The young man was returning the toy gun to his friends house. His friend was visiting the day before and left it by accident. The victims parents never saw it and did not buy it for the victim.
ReplyDeleteWhen he was walking down the street he had ear buds on and a hoodie over it. Speculation was that he did not even hear the police and finally just turned around being shot instantly. 16 seconds from being spotted he was dead. It was a police officer and a trainee.
Not blaming the cops per say but this 13 year old didn't have a chance. Why shoot 7 times?
Sonoma is a very wealthy suburb of Napa, but they have large "immigrant camps" that consists of low income housing and trailers on the outskirts. They work in the vineyards and B & B's that spot the countryside.
Erick Gelhaus Identified As Cop Who Killed Teenager Andy Lopez
ReplyDeleteThe Sonoma County sheriff's deputy who gunned down a 13-year-old California boy over a toy gun has been identified.
The Sheriff's office confirmed Sunday to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat that Deputy Erick Gelhaus, 48, fired the shots.
Gelhaus, a 24-year veteran of the office, is also an Iraq War veteran, firearms instructor and contributing writer to gun publications.
On Oct. 22, Gelhaus shot and killed 13-year-old Andy Lopez of Santa Rosa, firing seven rounds into the teen.
The officer, accompanied by an officer-in-training, thought the teen was armed and radioed for backup. He ordered the boy to drop what he presumed to be a weapon. The object turned out to be a pellet gun, a toy in the shape of an AK-47.
Ten seconds later, Gelhaus allegedly opened fire when he saw Lopez -- his back to the deputies -- begin to turn around with the barrel of the toy gun rising. The officer-in-training did not fire, according to authorities.
In a 2008 article written by Gelhaus for S.W.A.T. Magazine, the officer warned against hesitation in deciding to use a firearm lethally.
"Today is the day you may need to kill someone in order to go home," he wrote. "If you cannot turn on the 'mean gene' for yourself, who will? If you find yourself in an ambush, in the kill zone, you need to turn on that mean gene."
His writings ranged from advice on how to hold and operate firearms to what to do in potentially life-threatening situations.
"Taking some kind of action -- any kind of action -- is critical," he wrote. "If you shut down (physically, psychologically, or both) and stay in the kill zone, bad things will happen to you. You must take some kind of action."
Gelhaus was previously in the Army and National Guard for six years, according to his LinkedIn profile. He has also been a firearms instructor for over a decade at Gunsite Academy, an Arizona-based company that teaches gun-handling, marksmanship, and law enforcement to "free citizens of the U.S."
SFGate reported that in 1995, Gelhaus shot himself in the leg with his service handgun while holstering the firearm to frisk a teen for weapons. Officials said up until last Tuesday's shooting of Lopez, Gelhaus had never shot at a suspect before.
On Sunday, more than 1,000 people showed up to a service for the slain teen. On Tuesday, a march to the sheriff's office in protest of officer Gelhaus is expected to take place, according to the Associated Press.
Spokesman Assistant Sheriff Lorenzo Duenas said the sheriff's office has received multiple threats against Gelhaus, and that steps will be taken to protect him if necessary.
As an investigation into the incident continues with both the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office and the FBI, District Attorney Jill Ravitch is urging the public to be patient.
"In order for the process to succeed, I ask that we be given the time needed for a deliberate, step-by-step investigation to occur," Ravitch said. "I know we all seek the truth about what occurred on Oct. 22, and there is no one more committed to determining the facts than me."
Gelhaus and the officer-in-training have been placed on administrative leave.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/29/erick-gelhaus-cop-shooter_n_4173593.html?ref=topbar
Thanks for the background information. I read on another site that the toy rifle belonged to a friend and he was walking over to return it. The toy pistol in his wasteband was his own.
DeleteThousands Protest In California Where 13-Year-Old Playing With Toy Gun Was Shot By Police
DeleteRiot police have showed up to a protest in Sonoma County, Calif., where thousands are rallying against the shooting death of a 13-year-old boy killed by police, according to news station KTVU.
Sheriff's deputies shot and killed Andy Lopez last week when they spotted him outside with what they thought was an assault rifle. It turned out that the gun was fake. Andy was pronounced dead at the scene.
The incident has gained national attention, and thousands showed up to the demonstration outside the sheriff's station Tuesday, NBC Bay Area reports.
Almost 4,000 people liked the Facebook page that advertised the rally.
Photos are embedded below:
http://www.businessinsider.com/riot-police-show-up-to-andy-lopez-protests-2013-10
Aaaand here's some more gun insanity for ya!
ReplyDeleteMichael Guzzo, Man Who Shot Moore Family, 'Couldn't Stand The Dogs'
Michael Guzzo was becoming increasingly unhinged.
He complained for months about incessant dog barking coming from homes all around him. He even put up fliers on doors throughout his Phoenix townhome complex advising people of pet ordinances and fines.
This weekend, police say, the 56-year-old went on a rampage, methodically killing four members of a family who lived next door, along with their two dogs. He then walked across a courtyard and tried to kill more neighbors with dogs before he went home and killed himself.
One of the victims, Renee Moore, "told me all the time the man was crazy," said her mother-in-law, Jacque Alderman, 70. "He just couldn't stand the dogs."
Also killed in the Saturday shooting were Moore's father, Bruce Moore, 66; her husband, Michael Moore, 42, who used his wife's last name; and her son, Shannon Moore, 17.
Libni Deleon, 26, said that just a few months ago he returned home from work to find Guzzo standing by his back gate where his two dogs were on the patio barking.
"He said, 'Your dogs are barking. I'm here to live in peace,'" Deleon recalled.
Moments after the killings Saturday, Guzzo went back to Deleon's home and began kicking on the front door.
Deleon's wife, Vanessa, had just gotten out of the shower, grabbed their two children and ran upstairs to hide in the bathtub.
Libni Deleon went toward the door as Guzzo blasted two holes through it, sending about 20 shotgun pellets into the walls at the back of their home.
He ran upstairs to get his gun, opened the window and began to yell at Guzzo, who opened fire again before walking back to his own home to kill himself.
more details...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/29/michael-guzzo-dogs-moore-family-shot-killed_n_4173727.html?ref=topbar
Brother Dies In Car Crash Rushing To Hospital After Sister's Suicide
A man was killed in a car crash as he followed an ambulance carrying his sister, who had just committed suicide.
Brenda Tucker, 21, was at her family-owned bar early Sunday in Detroit, Mich. when she took a gun, walked into a back room, and shot herself, Detroit News reported.
Her uncle, Eddie Falbo, said Tucker suffered from depression. Attempts to stop her suicide failed.
“She grabbed a gun, and I took it away from her head,” Falbo said. “Others were talking to her. I came out the door and heard, 'pop.' It was terrible. There were about eight to 10 people in the bar -- everyone heard it.”
An ambulance took her to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. As her brother, 20-year-old Ricky Tucker, raced to the hospital to check on her, he was struck by an SUV and killed, police told the Detroit Free Press .
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/28/ricky-tucker-car-crash_n_4169631.html
This is a tragedy for all involved. I read about this on another site, and until it's fully investigated, and even then, I doubt everyone's questions will be answered. There's a history of friction between law enforcement and the Latino community, but it's a split second decision, the kid was wearing earphones, the cop decided to shoot to kill because he feared for his life. Who knows if racism had anything to do with it at all?
ReplyDeleteAt 13, a lot of boys look much older from a distance, but I doubt age was even on his mind when he fired? We didn't allow this type of gun as a toy in our home, but if we did, we'd spray paint it every shade of pink, put streamers and unicorn stickers on it, whatever it takes to make it as unappealing to our son and scream "toy" to whomever sees it.
The second photo and egging cops on to make you tube videos, I'm with you. Those idiots are more deserving.
My heart goes out to the family and those who love him. And to the next family it happens to, because we all know, sadly, it'll happen again.