Reaction to Monday
’s arrest of four teenaged boys for brandishing real-looking
assault rifles and handguns has been simple. “Stupid” is the word
heard most often, followed by “what were their parents
thinking?”
Reaction to Monday’s arrest of four teenaged boys for brandishing real-looking assault rifles and handguns has been simple.
“Stupid” is the word heard most often, followed by “what were their parents thinking?”
Morgan Hill Police Interim Chief Bruce Cumming has different thoughts about what the boys called “playing commando.” His officers came within a hair’s breadth of shooting the boys because they appeared to be threatening with lethal weapons a field full of 7- and 8-year-old baseball players. Police said the boys, 13 to 16-years-old, and their parents described the incident as “no big deal.”
“I’m just so angry,” Cumming said.
He isn’t alone.
Mayor Dennis Kennedy was visibly upset when asked about parents who thought it was no big deal for their sons to play with the guns in public after removing the orange “This Is Not A Real Gun” markers.
“It is just ridiculous that any parent would allow a child to run such a risk,” Kennedy said. “It’s craziness and starts kids on the wrong path, thinking that going out and scaring people is fun.”
He said he would ask the council to consider a city ordinance controlling minors and “replica” guns. It is already against a federal law to remove or paint over the federally mandated orange tip on the guns’ barrels.
The incident occurred Monday afternoon when police received several panicked calls to 911 that four males carrying assault rifles and wearing masks were seen at Jackson School, moving toward the adjacent park’s baseball fields.
When approached by police and warned to lay down their weapons the boys refused and scattered for cover toward the fields at Jackson Park. The park is located on Fountain Oaks Drive east of Hill Road where Pinto baseball teams were preparing for a game.
If Officer Rick Vestal hadn’t noticed a white handle on one gun and decided the weapons were replicas and not the real thing, the day could have ended tragically, police said.
Police Lt. Joe Sampson said Monday after the boys were cited and released to their parents that officers seldom recover from shooting someone, especially if it was a mistake and most especially if it was a child.
While most people who contacted The Times after reading Tuesday’s story on the boys and their guns understood the dilemma the boys’ actions put the police in, others said they thought the police and the adults who called them overreacted.
Both Cumming and Sampson said they could not stress enough that the point was not that the boys were just playing but that the police had no way of knowing that. Helping police out in situations like this is why federal law requires the orange blazes to mark the realistic-looking weapons. The boys did everything to make the police think they were “bad guys.”
Sampson said his officers’ first responsibility was simple: protect the children.
“If a person has a gun that looks like a real firearm and brandishes it or points it at police or others,” Sampson said, “they run the risk of being shot. It’s a split-second decision and difficult for the public to understand.”
To give the public a sense of how close the boys may have come to serious injury, Sampson related his experience with machines that simulate an officer/suspect confrontation scene.
“Some departments let members of the public try out these machines to see what it’s like,” he said.
The citizen has a “loaded” gun and represents an officer in a situation thought to be dangerous. He is confronted by a character on the screen making a threatening movement or brandishing something the “officer” could see as a weapon.
“Sometimes these characters are really holding a cell phone or a toy gun,” he said. “Quite often when the character points the weapon at the citizen/officer, the citizens shoot. We have advanced training but we still have human eyes.”
If a weapon looks real and the person holding it acts in a threatening manner, police are going to react, Sampson said. On Monday, everyone was lucky.
Sampson said the school district would not be notified of the boys’ names because the incident did not occur during school hours or on school property.
Superintendent of Schools Carolyn McKennan had nothing but praise for the police department’s cool heads.
“Chief Cumming called me at 6 p.m. (less than an hour after the incident ended) with the news,” McKennan said. “They were so responsive, I’m grateful that they put our children’s safety first.”
She said school principals have collected toy guns from elementary school students for years but, to her knowledge, have never confiscated these replica guns. McKennan is aware that some student/public education is necessary.
“I suspect some of our schools will talk about the replica firearm issue in assemblies when school starts in the fall,” McKennan said.
Sampson said he was more than ready to help out.
Jackson School Principal Karen Tavares sent a letter explaining Monday’s event home with her students but said Thursday that there was no apparent upset or change of mood among the children. She will leave it up to the parents to discuss the incident with their children.
Possession of imitation firearms is grounds for suspension or expulsion in the school district.
Marc Buller, assistant district attorney with the juvenile court, said his office has not yet received the boys’ cases. The MHPD will send the citations issued Monday to juvenile probation where a probation officer will investigate the case. If the officer decides it is appropriate, the case will be sent to the District Attorney’s office who will decide what charges, if any, to apply.
The process typically takes three to four weeks, Buller said.
“There is a range of sanctions in juvenile cases,” Buller said. “They could be sent home on probation, to Juvenile Hall, a boys’ ranch, California Youth Authority or a group home. It is all case by case.”
Tuesday’s story on Monday’s incident can be read at www.morganhilltimes.com
