13-Year-Old Boy Shot and Killed by Police After Chase
The New York Times
Officers in Utica, N.Y., believed the boy had brandished a handgun. The police chief said on Saturday that it was a pellet gun.
A 13-year-old boy was shot and killed by a police officer in Utica, N.Y., after a foot chase on Friday night, according to the police.
The boy, whom the police did not identify, was one of two juveniles stopped by the Utica Police Department’s Crime Prevention Unit at about 10:18 p.m., the police said. After they were stopped, the 13-year-old ran and displayed “what appeared to be a handgun,” the police said in a statement.
After a struggle on the ground, a police officer “ultimately discharged his firearm once, striking the male,” Mark Williams, the chief of police, said at a news conference on Saturday.
The boy was taken to a hospital, where he died, the police said. Later, officers recovered a replica of a Glock 17 Gen5 handgun with a detachable magazine, according to the news release.
The replica was determined to be a pellet gun, according to Chief Williams.
The boys were stopped because of an “ongoing police investigation,” he said, but did not explain further.
