http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/28/us/baltimore-13-year-old-shot/CNN)Baltimore police on Thursday defended the shooting a day before of a 13-year-old carrying a replica gun, saying authorities had little option but to pursue the boy when they saw him walking down the street with what looked like a deadly handgun.
"I would argue our police officers were compelled to act when they saw that 13-year-old with a gun in his hand," Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis told reporters.
"I would argue our police officers were compelled to act when they saw that 13-year-old with a gun in his hand," Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis told reporters."
Two plainclothes detectives, one male and one female, were returning from a strategy session on how to deal with a recent spate of gun violence when they spotted the teen walking down the street, Davis said.
They identified themselves and ordered him to drop the gun, but the boy ran for about 150 yards with the officers in pursuit, Davis said.
A witness interviewed by both CNN affiliate WBAL-TV and by the police said the boy turned back toward the officers with the gun in his hands before he was shot.
"I heard him yell, 'It's not real,' like twice, and that quick, the male officer shot him twice in the leg," said the man, whom the station identified only as Bryan.
One of the two officers, a 12-year-veteran named Thomas Smith, shot the teenager twice, once in the leg and once in the shoulder, according to Davis.
The teen is expected to recover from his injuries, police said.
What police at first thought could have been a gun turned out to be a Daisy Powerline 340 .177-caliber BB gun. The weapon is meant to be used for target shooting, according to Davis.
Davis called the weapon "a dead-on ringer for a Beretta 92FS semiautomatic pistol."
