(credit: CBS)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles police officers have shot and critically wounded a 16-year-old boy they claim pointed a gun at them.
Lt. Andy Neiman says the boy is hospitalized Tuesday in critical but stable condition.
Neiman says two plainclothes officers were patrolling in North Hollywood Monday evening when they stopped the boy to speak with him. Neiman says both officers opened fire after the teenager pulled a gun and pointed it at them.
A handgun was recovered at the scene.
The boy’s identity hasn’t been released and Neiman says he doesn’t know why the officers tried to stop him.
It was not clear how many times the officers fired.
(© Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
34 Comments
Im tired of this. Why didn’t those cops ask for ID to make sure he wasn’t just a kid first? Two cops against 1 little teenager? They couldn’t just throw a baton an knock the gun out of his hand or do a flying kick and knock it away or something. We need to take to the streets people!!!
September 21, 2010 at 2:10 pm | | Report comment
When someone points a gun at you you don’t have time to ask for ID and as for knocking the gun away with a flying kick, you watch way too much TV and believe the fiction they are showing you. Learn to differentiate between reality and fantasy. Until you walk in the shoes of an officer who is trying to protect people while bad guys are out to hurt them and other innocent civilians, just keep your uneducated thoughts to yourself. The cops are the good guys, everyone seems to forget that.
September 21, 2010 at 2:27 pm | | Report comment
you right your comments make sense, we the people getting tire of Police violate peoples Civil Right
September 21, 2010 at 4:32 pm
You Don’t know what happen, but We don’t trust Police any more
So you need to get more educated about Peoples civil rights
Go to School and learn about the laws
September 21, 2010 at 4:36 pm
@VUDO,
you are joking? ask for I.D. from a person with a gun? throw a baton at someone with a gun? do a flying kick? you are obviously joking. if someone is stupid enough to carry weapons around in public and show them when cops are present. they will probly be shot.
September 21, 2010 at 2:39 pm | | Report comment
WHEN A GUN IS POINTED AT YOU, IF YOU HAVE A GUN SHOOT FIRST AND ASK QUESTIONS LATER.
September 21, 2010 at 3:08 pm
So what if he had and ID? He could still have a gun and could still be the first to pull it out. Officers have to shoot at someone who pulls out a gun, whether he is a kid or an adult.
September 21, 2010 at 2:58 pm | | Report comment
Please tell me that you are being sarcastic here Vudu.
September 21, 2010 at 3:40 pm | | Report comment
Not very smart Vudu! Think before you speak
September 21, 2010 at 4:46 pm | | Report comment
vudu: HAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA!!! You’re a funny guy/gal! Whatever it is you’re taking, please pass some over here so I can live in the same fantasy world as you, you poor innocent little thing!
September 27, 2010 at 9:44 pm | | Report comment
Vudu, do you teach martial arts? I would like to learn how to do a flying kick. I think that trick would come in handy. I also thing they should ad a baton throwing event on the next police Olympics.
April 5, 2011 at 12:19 am | | Report comment
Police best start watching their backs. I feel pretty soon others are gonna start shooting them for vengenance when they see a bad shooting. I’m not saying they wernt justified in their actions cause I wasn’t there. But it sure seems to be police shootings on the rise. Heck I saw the cops kick a suspect after he was on the ground when I asked y thy said he was Not being still enough so had to be safe.I saw it to be for their personal kicks/enjoyment
September 21, 2010 at 2:20 pm | | Report comment
Great! More people taking to the streets. And why is it always the police fault? How about the kid? 16 years old with a gun? Let alone to point it at the cops? Common sense people! I want to see u out there in the field in a low life area and have people point a gun at u. What r u going to walk up to him and knock it out of his hand? Right
September 21, 2010 at 2:29 pm | | Report comment
Vudu and Buck, ask yourself this “What was a 16 year old doing in the streets with a pistol in his waistband?” I am sure he wasn’t a gang member. No! I got it! He was on his way to his chess club when he found the gun and was on his way to turn it over to the police.
September 21, 2010 at 2:46 pm | | Report comment
You people posting are watching too much CSI and NCIS tv shows. Get a grip. Why don’t you say anything or why doesn’t this channel report that last year there were over 525 ASSAULTS against police officers, and yet that means they were being shot at. No one hears that number because the media is to busy trying to stir up trouble. This teenager wasn’t as innocent as you think. Everyone cries until they become a victim of a crime. The next time a young drug dealer or a gangster confronts you since you think cops arse bad call a libririan.
September 21, 2010 at 2:48 pm | | Report comment
Really vudu? A flying kick? Do you live in the same reality as everyone else? It is common knowledge that if you pull a gun on ANYONE you could potentially be shot by them. It is plain and simple self-defense whether or not they are cops. It doesn’t matter how old he is, he still has the ability to fire that gun. The police officers were MORE than justified to shoot him. We are lucky it was a cop he pulled the gun on and not an unarmed citizen that can’t defend themselves!
September 21, 2010 at 2:54 pm | | Report comment
I was unaware that rapist, thugs and cop killers carried identification stating their criminal speciality. You must be young, very ignorant or both? Cops are trained to use their best judgement. The kid pointed a gun at them!!! So what are you saying better to shoot a Police Officer than a thug in the training. I leave you with one parting question. If you or your loved one was in trouble. Who would you call? A sixteen year old kid packing or 911?
September 21, 2010 at 3:02 pm | | Report comment
Some of these clueless posters should spend a month w/o a police force to protect them.
September 21, 2010 at 3:03 pm | | Report comment
In reply to Vudo.
September 21, 2010 at 3:05 pm | | Report comment
Back in March, LAPD shot Steven Eugene Washington, an Autistic individual after he “appeared to be reaching for a gun” while he was walking home late at night (he missed the bus, was probably confused and was just trying to find his way back home).
You would think that the police would instead try to assist an individual in this situation, instead they put a bullet in his head.
LAPD officers are trigger-happy. They would much rather shoot first, ask questions later because that’s how they are trained. They won’t say it publicly, but that’s what they’re trained to do: If they feel a sense of insecurity – shoot.
Just remember folks, if you ever get stopped by the LAPD, be VERY careful about what you do, because any sudden movement can end your life, it’s happened to a lot of people, and I wonder why the media doesn’t do a report on how many of the homicides in Los Angeles actually are due to “death by cop”.
Cops are very stressed out individuals with a number of personal problems, which they take out on individuals in the community. The only times they actually stop to think about their actions is while patrolling the better neighborhoods, or stopping expensive vehicles driven by non-minorities.
September 21, 2010 at 3:07 pm | | Report comment
This is probably the most presumptuous and ignorant post I’ve seen in a long time. Were you there when Washington shot? Every time a new article gets posted about the police shooting someone, the automatic response is is that they are a trigger-happy fools looking to take someone out. Unless you have walked in the shoes of a law enforcement officer who has had to use his/her firearm, you are in no place to judge. When someone is acting irrationally, you have about 1 second to decide what is the right decision and then act. If you don’t, you could very well die.
September 21, 2010 at 5:59 pm | | Report comment
L.F, and you know this HOW????
September 27, 2010 at 9:48 pm | | Report comment
I can’t believe you people didn’t know vudu was joking. His statement is dripping with sarcasm.
September 21, 2010 at 3:22 pm | | Report comment
Wow, you people are gullible. Vudu was clearly joking and being sarcastic, yet he managed to get everyone riled up.
September 21, 2010 at 3:31 pm | | Report comment
I believe that Vudu just meant to be sarcastic. In real life people are not that stupid…or are they
September 21, 2010 at 3:38 pm | | Report comment
they are. then the community will protest against the police for doing there duty.
September 21, 2010 at 3:44 pm | | Report comment
There’s alot of people pushing up daisies because a 16 year old, or someone even younger killed them. Don’t get so caught up on the age. Look at it for what it is. A criminal with a gun stepping up to the cops, as they are doing more and more every single day.They won this time, and he lost, and we should all be thankful. That gun on this little monster wasn’t meant as a clothing accessory, ti was meant to kill some other person out there that was gonna cross this guys path.
September 21, 2010 at 3:53 pm | | Report comment
They “found” a gun at the scene…….yes, commonly known as a “throwaway”….
September 21, 2010 at 4:00 pm | | Report comment
Bob Hauser: STOP watching CSI or Detroit 187 and go for a ride along one day to get a taste of what REALLY goes on out there while you’re at home sipping on your gin or smoking your weed…
September 27, 2010 at 9:50 pm | | Report comment
Well if there were no witnesses then there’s no real proof the kid had a gun but of course the one recovered was his registered ect right! I’m really not that gullable and I truly believe that racial profiling was a factor in this.senseless shooting a boy on a bike and they had to ask him where was the closet donut shop? I’m just not clear if he was latino or black? People who believe that shoot first ask later must be the same people who believe hitler had the right idea!
September 21, 2010 at 4:34 pm | | Report comment
HOLY CRAP!!!!! that many of you couldn’t spot sarcasm? Like 2 or 3 intelligent people here and a dozen others? Wow. Yeah it was a joke…. i spent a lot of time defending the officers in the rampart area shooting of the guatamalan. I hought maybe 1 or 2 of you wouldn’t get it…… but damn.
September 21, 2010 at 4:43 pm | | Report comment
I scream into the void: “WHERE ARE THE PARENTS?????” My kid wouldn’t have to worry about a cop shooting hin. He DOES however have to worry about what I would do to him. And he knows it. I love to ask: “Who owns the problem???”
PS: Vudu. I like the way you think — sarcasm and all.
September 21, 2010 at 4:56 pm | | Report comment
16 year olds shoot people all the time. Just because he’s in LA doesn’t make him exempt from obeying the law.
September 22, 2010 at 8:12 am | | Report comment
PARENTS: send your child to school and have them play a sport and then they need to come home and study……..its REAL simple folks !
January 10, 2011 at 9:02 pm | | Report comment