BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) _ Police say the weapon a Texas eighth-grader pointed at officers in a school hallway before they killed him was a pellet gun that looked like a real handgun.
Interim Brownsville Police Chief Orlando Rodriguez says 15-year-old Jaime Gonzalez had “plenty of opportunities” to lower the weapon but “didn’t want to.”
Rodriguez says two officers fired three shots and struck Gonzalez at least twice. Police are awaiting the results of an autopsy.
Rodriguez says that before the confrontation with police, Gonzalez walked into a Cummings Middle School classroom and punched another boy in the nose. He says he doesn’t know why Gonzalez brandished the weapon but that the initial call to police said a student had a gun.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)