A Highland teenage boy is in a critical condition after a deputy shot him claiming the youngster was about to attack him with a hammer.
The family of 16-year-old Joshua Alvarez called the Highland Police Department Saturday night saying that one of their family members was armed and they feared for their safety, according to a statement from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, reported the Los Angeles Times.
Deputies arrived at the house at around 10:30 p.m. The police claim they found Joshua with a hammer and a knife threatening family members. He had earlier got into a fight with his elder brother. "They were just arguing, you know, just fighting, and my nephew, I believe, he obviously got upset, and wanted to hit him," Franceen Salcido, Joshua's aunt told ABC 7. The family also said that the deputy should have handled the situation in a different manner.
The police also said that he tried to attack the deputies and in defense a deputy shot him.
"The bullet hit his liver, which cut half of it off, and shattered his kidney," said Salcido to ABC.7.
However, the police's version of the story seems to be one-sided. Ronnie Gutierrez, Joshua's neighbor and witness to the incident, said the teen did not make any aggressive move toward the deputies. "The police came up, they told him, 'Drop the hammer, drop the hammer, drop the hammer' a few times, and he didn't want to. I didn't see him make any aggressive move toward the police, and the police just ended up shooting him," said Gutierrez.
This is not the first case where deputies called for help have shot at teenagers. Recently, a schizophrenic teenage boy from North Carolina was shot dead by police officials. A deputy shot the teen saying that they "did not have time for this."
According to the teen's stepdad, "Then this fat cop from Southport walks in the room, walks around the corner, says, 'We don't have time for this. Tase that kid now. Let's get him out of here,'" reported the Examiner.
