On Monday, police in Cleveland, Ohio, shot and killed an armed suspect after he reached into his waistband for a weapon. Ordinarily, if an armed person fails to order police demands to put his or her hands in the air, or in fact reaches for a weapon, the police shooting is considered justified. After all, police put their lives on the line in the interest of public safety, and sometimes, they are called upon to make quick decisions for their own safety.

Monday's case is not ordinary, however, and police are reeling after their quick decision is being scrutinized. You see, the "armed suspect" was armed only with a toy gun--and he was only 12 years old.

The police who approached 12-year-old Tamir Rice at the playground were responding to a 9-1-1 call in which a caller said that a young man was brandishing a pistol and pointing it at people inside a recreational center. The caller said that the gun was "probably fake" and that the person pointing it was "probably a juvenile," but it is not clear whether the dispatcher relayed that information to police. At least one source says that police were not told that the caller said the gun might not be real.

Even if they had been told, would it have mattered? Would you be willing to bet your life on "probably?"

Police say the air gun that the boy had tucked in his waistband was "indistinguishable" from a real gun, and that an orange tip used to show that the weapon was a fake had been removed. This incident has some gun control advocates calling for a ban on toy guns. It is not the first time the issue has been addressed, as there are a number of cases of children and adults with toy guns being shot and killed by police.

  • This summer, police in Ohio shot and killed a 22-year-old man holding a toy gun in Walmart.
  • Just over a year ago, police in California shot and killed a 13-year-old boy carrying an airsoft gun that they believed to be an assault rifle. When officers approached the boy, they demanded that he drop the "weapon," which actually shoots plastic projectiles. When the boy, still holding the gun, turned toward police, he was shot 7 times.
  • In 2012, an 8th grader in Texas was shot and killed by police who believed the pellet gun he carried was a Glock.
  • Also in 2012, a teen holding an airsoft rifle with the orange tip removed narrowly escaped harm when Sacramento police almost fired on him before the teen placed the "weapon" on the ground.
  • In 2011, a 57-year-old mentally disabled man carrying a toy gun was killed by police after they received several 9-1-1 calls about a man carrying a weapon. When police ordered the autistic man to drop the gun, he instead turned and pointed it at them, sealing his fate.

Whether or not a toy gun ban is necessary, it seems important to teach our children--and apparently adults as well--that unless police can confirm that a firearm is a toy or replica, they will treat it as if it is real. Altering a replica gun to make it look more realistic is a bad idea. Pointing any weapon--real or fake--at the police is a sure way to get shot. Right or wrong, for police trying to preserve their own safety, tasers often aren't fast enough. 

A "shoot first, ask questions later" mentality can protect police, but it can also lead to the unnecessary death of a whose game of make believe ends in tragic reality.