Ohio cop gives boy with BB gun ‘life lesson,’ tells child he ‘could have killed’ him, video shows
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The Columbus, Ohio Police Department said a “lesson was learned” after an officer responded to a report of two young black males flashing a gun, and discovered one of the boys actually had a BB gun.
Body camera footage showed Officer Peter Casuccio telling the boys, ages 11 and 13, on Saturday that “this is getting kids killed all over the country,” News & Observer reported.
“So we’re driving down the road, right, and they call in and they say there’s two young, male blacks, one with all-red pants and a blue sweatshirt and one wearing red and black. They look really young and they just flashed a gun,” Casuccio told the boys, according to the footage.
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Casuccio took the BB gun from the 11-year-old and told him “that thing looks real, bro.” The boys were heard apologizing to the officer.
“You should be sorry, and you should be scared,” Casuccio said.
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“Do you think I want to shoot an 11-year-old? Do you think I want to shoot a 13-year-old?” the officers asked the children. “Do I honestly look like the kind of dude that wants to shoot anybody?”
The children replied, “No.”
“But do I look like the type of dude that will shoot somebody?” the officer asked.
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“Yes, sir,” the two boys said.
“I pride myself on being a pretty bad hombre because I got to be,” Casuccio said. “Don’t make me.”
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The officer told the children that officers were going to drive them home. Casuccio told the 11-year-old's mom what had happened.
Tielissa Sowell, the mother of the 11-year-old boy, told FOX 28 she was not aware her son had a BB gun and was upset because she could have lost her only child.
"He's my only child," Sowell told FOX 28. "I could have lost him, I really could have."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.