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MLeake · March 21, 2008, 06:35 PM

I don't remember whether it was airsoft, but he had a Beretta 92 replica at his middle school. Threatened students and teachers with it, then barricaded himself in a restroom across the hall from a classroom.

Unfortunately, everybody thought it was a real weapon.

SWAT team responded. The kid (14yo 8th grader, I think) was killed by a single shot.

Of course, all the usual letter writers complained that the cops shouldn't have shot the kid, since the gun wasn't real. But you have to wonder what they'd have written if SWAT hadn't responded, the gun had been real, and the kid had started firing into the classroom across the hall.

OTOH, I had a friend who, as a deputy in southern California, ended a real school shooting by tackling the kid (shooter) in the rest room. He didn't want to shoot a kid, and it turned out well. No deaths. But my friend took a major risk.

I had another friend, a marine who was working as a reserve cop in Riverside, who didn't think the gun a kid was pointing at him was real, until it went "bang." Luckily, the vest stopped the bullet, but my friend still took some liver bruising. The kid was 13, but was a junior member of a gang, and my friend and his team were arresting some of the gang members when this happened.

Cool as they may look, realistic looking toy or airsoft guns are a fatal accident waiting to happen.

March 21, 2008, 06:35 PM	#67
MLeake Senior Member Join Date: November 15, 2007 Location: Outside KC, MO Posts: 10,128	Kid got killed in central Florida last year I don't remember whether it was airsoft, but he had a Beretta 92 replica at his middle school. Threatened students and teachers with it, then barricaded himself in a restroom across the hall from a classroom. Unfortunately, everybody thought it was a real weapon. SWAT team responded. The kid (14yo 8th grader, I think) was killed by a single shot. Of course, all the usual letter writers complained that the cops shouldn't have shot the kid, since the gun wasn't real. But you have to wonder what they'd have written if SWAT hadn't responded, the gun had been real, and the kid had started firing into the classroom across the hall. OTOH, I had a friend who, as a deputy in southern California, ended a real school shooting by tackling the kid (shooter) in the rest room. He didn't want to shoot a kid, and it turned out well. No deaths. But my friend took a major risk. I had another friend, a marine who was working as a reserve cop in Riverside, who didn't think the gun a kid was pointing at him was real, until it went "bang." Luckily, the vest stopped the bullet, but my friend still took some liver bruising. The kid was 13, but was a junior member of a gang, and my friend and his team were arresting some of the gang members when this happened. Cool as they may look, realistic looking toy or airsoft guns are a fatal accident waiting to happen.