Suicide by Cop. I feel for the Officers involved. 
Either was this was a very ill boy⊠Tragic, senseless, the officers are mentally injured from this as well.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
But the little turd had 22 prior run-ins with the police. That was 22 chances for someone to say, âHey, maybe this kid needs a little more discipline and we need to do more than âcatch and releaseâ.â
I hate it. It was a toy. But how are the Cops to know that if they arenât right up on him. You canât really blame them for taking action, a long gun pointed in their face. The kid seems to have known what he was doing, aggravating the cops but I have to ask myself, did they shoot too soon? Could they have done anything different?
Iâm not losing any sleep over it.
Hindsight can be valuable; second-guessing rarely is.
When the barrel of a gun, or what LOOKS like a gun, is aimed at you, you are a split second away from something bad possibly happening to you and have to act. Whether the âgunâ is real or a toy becomes irrelevant. In this case, I feel sorry for both the kid (for doing something so idiotic) and the cops (for reacting to what they perceived to be a deadly situation). As well as the load the cops have to carry upon learning that the âgunâ was, in fact, a toy.
The Police certainly could have done things differently. They could have guessed wrong and watched someone with a real firearm firing real bullets at them or at innocent bystanders.
This troubled teen played a stupid game knowing full well what was waiting for him on the prize table.
This is a sad situation. My thoughts and prayers are with this young manâs family, as well as the families of the officers involved.
I second what @Calvin_USCCA has stated, and in agreement with what has been stated by everyone else.
I would just like to add my personal experience. My mom raised 6 childrenâs by herself and not once brought any of us a toy gun. We watched cowboys and Indian on tv and cop shows, so we learnt by tv mostly the danger of guns. Growing up in Chicago projects we seen enough shooting to learn even more of the danger but also leaned that a gun can and should be for protection of self, family and others not to be played with.
I really respect your personal experience @Lu-Can. It shows how different things are based on where you grew up. 
There are no winners in this situation. LEO were justified in discharging their firearms. The cops have to live with this decision for the rest of their lives. The parents of the teen suffer the loss of a child. Unfortunately these types of incidents happen a lot I can testify to it because it happened to me but thank the good lord I didnât have to shoot.
The headline paints him as a child. The article tells the truth. This was a convicted felon, with obvious mental issues. I feel for his family, and the officers.
Yes, I agree.
One motorist reported hearing King say, âshoot meâ as he aimed the rifle at passing vehicles.
Although police received reports that King was possibly armed with an AK-style rifle, Young said King was actually carrying an airsoft rifle[.]
King had a felony arrest for battery on a school board employee in 2017 and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in 2018, among 22 prior interactions with police[.]
A lot of the pistols and rifles look so real it would be hard to tell the different at a distance.
Thatâs a BB gun, at night are day I would have shot the person. Itâs the same size as a AR 15.
Whatâs worse, the Officers are going to have to live with that, the rest of their life.
PS: Were was has parents when he was growing up. PSS: I forgot one thing this is a 22 cal. and shots at 450 fps sec. but they have one that is over 1100 fps and can go full auto.