A Baltimore police detective shot and wounded a boy who was assumed to be in possession of a semiautomatic pistol that was actually a BB gun Wednesday afternoon, Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said.
The boy, identified as 14-year-old Dedric Colvin, suffered non-life-threatening injuries to a "lower extremity," Davis added.
Wednesday's chain of events that ended in the shooting began shortly after 4 p.m., when two undercover police officers assigned to the Police Department's intelligence section were driving in the 1100 block of East Baltimore Street and noticed someone who looked like they were in possession of a firearm. They then reportedly exited their unmarked vehicle and identified themselves as officers and told him to stop, but Colvin ran instead.
"So when he ran, and the foot chase was a good 150 or so yards, and rounded a corner, kept running, he had every opportunity to drop the gun," Davis said.
The chase came to an end when one of the detectives opened fire, striking Colvin in a "lower extremity."
"He had every opportunity to stop, put his hands in the air, comply with the instructions of the police officers," he added. "I don't what's going through a 13-year-old's mind. I don't know why he decided to put a gun in his hand and leave his house. I wish he didn't. I'm sure his mom wishes he didn't. But the Baltimore Police Department is tasked with identifying people who pose a threat to this community."
While this was going on, Colvin's mother, Volanda Young, was at home and revealed she was notified of the shooting when her older son told her what had happened. She went outside to find Colvin bleeding in a side street near a basketball court. Young noted that she didn't know where her son had got the gun but was confident that he was scared and that he was fleeing when he was shot.
She said that it was "humiliating" that she was handcuffed and taken in for questioning before being allowed to visit the hospital where heer son was recovering.
As for Davis, his statements throughout the release indicated regret over the shooting, but he defended his men, saying the gun truly looked real and they acted appropriately considering the situation.
"They got out of their car and engaged a person that appeared to have a gun in his hand," he said. "That's what we're supposed to do. That's what cops do."
This latest police shooting evokes memories of the death of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old Cleveland boy who was shot by an officer in November 2014 after he showed off a toy gun at a public park. The shooting sparked national outrage, but that tale may soon be coming to an end as the City of Cleveland agreed this week to pay $6 million to settle a federal lawsuit brought by Rice's family.
Interestingly, the shooting also came on the day that Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was hosting a "reconciliation" event in West Baltimore to mark the one-year anniversary of the Freddie Gray riots - a conicidence that was not lost on Davis.
"The job of police officers here and elsewhere goes on," he said. "Police officers don't take days off. We're constantly tasked with responding to the concerns of the community. Public safety never takes a day off."
