保安官代理 BB銃を持っていた少年を射殺

Andy Lopez: California 13-year-old shot dead whilst carrying pellet gun
Police in Santa Rosa say they thought the replica firearm the teenager was carrying as he walked to a friend's house was real
HEATHER SAUL THURSDAY 24 OCTOBER 2013

A 13-year-old boy has been shot dead in California by sheriff deputies who believed the replica gun he was carrying was real, authorities have confirmed.

The incident comes after a 12-year-old boy shot dead a teacher in Nevada before taking his own life on Tuesday.

Andy Lopez Cruz, from Santa Rosa, was shot on his way to see his friend Luis Diaz while carrying a pellet gun left at the family home over the weekend.

Pellet guns, which use compressed air or other gases to fire pellets or spherical balls, are sometimes designed to resemble assault weapons. Police also found a plastic handgun tucked into his trousers.

Andy's family said he had been sent home from school early on Tuesday for staying out of the grounds too long on a break.

Lieutenant Paul Henry, who is investigating the incident for the Santa Rosa Police Department, said two Sonoma County Sheriff's deputies had been patrolling a street near the boy's home when they saw him walking with what appeared to be an assault weapon in his left hand.

One of the deputies, who he said did not immediately realise that the person he was seeing from behind was a child, shouted twice: “Put down the gun,” according to Henry and a police statement.

“The subject turned toward the deputies, and as he was doing that the barrel of the weapon was rising toward the deputies,” Henry said. The deputy then fired rounds, killing the boy.

　保安官代理が、空気銃をもっていた少年の銃の銃身が振り向きざまに上向いたので、射殺した、と。