The many cases over the last few years of fatal police shootings have raised questions — questions of police training, possible profiling and whether the person shot was armed. In some cases, police have shot and killed unarmed people. In other cases, police have shot and killed a civilian with a device that closely resembles a firearm.
Last week in Columbus, Ohio, police responded to a report of an armed robbery. They arrived at the scene and encountered three people, two of whom attempted to flee. Police reported that one of the attempted runners, 13-year-old Tyre King, pulled out what they believed to be a handgun. An officer then shot King.
An investigation and statement confirmed that the teen was actually in possession of a BB gun "with an attached laser site," but this was not until after King was pronounced dead.
“Any loss of life is tragic, but the loss of a young person is particularly difficult,” Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther told The Washington Post. “As a mayor and a father, the loss of a 13-year-old in the city of Columbus is troubling.”
What can also also be troubling is the fact that many imitation firearms, including the one carried by the late King, closely resemble real ones. Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs showed the media a photograph of the BB model that King reportedly pulled from his waistband, and said that Columbus officers carry guns that look "practically identical" to the BB gun.
The Columbus case drew certain parallels with the 2014 case of the late 12-year-old Tamir Rice.
Cleveland police were responding to a report of a black male sitting on a swing with a "pistol" and pointing it at people. The person who dialed 911 did tell police that the weapon Rice held was "probably fake," but Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams claimed the weapon was "indistinguishable from a real firearm."
In 2013, police in Santa Rosa, California, shot and killed 13-year-old Andy Lopez under the impression that the boy was wielding an AK-47 rifle. The weapon turned out to be an airsoft gun, TIME reported.
The Associated Press compiled a report on Sunday highlighting an "uptick" in the use of fake guns to commit actual crimes. An example of this would be an Arlington, Texas, case wherein a man used an air gun to carjack a woman. Arlington police said that almost 20 percent of seized firearms between March and August were later found to be imitation firearms.
Also, according to AP research, police across the United States have killed at least 25 people in cases involving fake guns since a 1994 incident that resulted in the death of a 13-year-old boy. That is approximately one death per year.
USC criminal justice professor Geoffrey Alpert weighed in for the AP on how criminals are likely not above using imitation firearms to carry out real crimes.
"If I can't go get a real gun, it's easier for me to waltz into Wal-Mart or whatever store sells these things and go get a replica," Alpert said. "Because if I go to a store to hold it up, the guy behind the counter isn't going to know it's not real."
Here in South Carolina, Woodruff police seized a BB gun from a 13-year-old boy in August, WSPA reported. According to Police Chief Alan Bledsoe, BB or airsoft gun manufacturers are not putting an orange tip on the barrels. However, AP reports that manufacturers are required by law to place orange plugs on the tips of barrels. They added that these plugs can easily be removed. The once-distinguishable CO2 canisters are also difficult to see, Bledsoe says.
"How in the world is a police officer supposed to tell the difference in a split second," Bledsoe said, "that he's getting ready to get shot with the real thing, or that somebody's pointing a — what people call a toy gun?"
Article 1 of Title 16, Chapter 23 in South Carolina's Code of Laws defines a "handgun" as "any firearm designed to expel a projectile and designed to be fired from the hand, but shall not include any firearm generally recognized or classified as an antique, curiosity, or collector's item, or any that does not fire fixed cartridges."
Background checks are not required to purchase airsoft guns because they are not real firearms. In at least 12 states and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, there are laws against the sale or use of imitation guns, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
"At least when that firearm is new, when it is purchased, there is a trail of that serial number," Bledsoe told WSPA, "and it goes into the system that somebody has purchased that firearm. That never happens with [imitation guns]."
Also in August, Anderson County SWAT searched for a man seen walking with a long gun. The man was found to be a teen with an airsoft rifle.
First-year biochemistry student Jack Lynch recalled a situation years ago when his friend and the friend's brother had police called on them while playing with airsoft guns in their backyard.
"They were just running around ... they had basically their paintball masks on," Lynch said. "I come home and my mom's like, 'Nick and Norman got the cops called on them today for playing airsoft in the backyard.'"
Lynch said the boys were around 8 and 10 years old at the time. He also recalled the police telling the boys to simply confine their playing to their own yard, and "maybe don't look so intimidating" in reference to their gear.
Unlike what ensued in King's case, the police did not open fire on those boys. In considering situations involving youths with imitation firearms that may resemble real ones, a question of procedure can be raised.
Civilians likely do not know exactly what protocol would be for an officer who encounters a person with what appears to be gun, but different cases have shown that different procedures have been carried out. King was not reported to have pointed his BB gun at officers, but the officers were responding to what was reported as an armed robbery.
"You train the officers to treat every situation where it's not abundantly 100 percent obvious like it's a real gun," Bledsoe said.
These heat-of-the-moment decisions made by police officers under pressure have resulted in the deaths of children. These compiled reports show that while a BB or airsoft gun can hurt a person by its very nature, having one in the wrong place at the wrong time can lead to deadly consequences.
"I guess if [officers] really thought it was an actual gun they would, like, prop up the door and hide behind it, and say, 'Drop the weapon,'" Lynch said. "I don't know why they would shoot first [and] ask questions later."
Lynch remembered airsoft guns that were brightly colored, but now they tend to be blacked out, causing them to more closely resemble actual firearms. He said that he never owned one himself.
"People just assume the worst ... They see the news and they're like, 'Oh my gosh, someone's walking around with a big gun,'" Lynch said. "There's no clear-cut way to tell the difference."
In an effort to protect people from the threat of gun violence, police will take a child with a fake gun that looks real seriously. These accounts are what bring toy gun safety and police training into question.
"Something that they see as a game or something that they see as funny can wind up getting somebody hurt or killed," Bledsoe said. Fellow officers "ask the same questions that they public does — 'Well, why couldn't I tell that that was not' — because you can't ... You can't take that chance."