Sheriff's deputy will NOT be charged for shooting dead 13-year-old boy ...

The Daily Mail Online ^ | July 8, 2014 | ASSOCIATED PRESS and DAILY MAIL REPORTER

[Uncle Chip]

Prosecutors said Monday they will not file criminal charges against a Northern California sheriff's deputy who shot and killed a 13-year-old boy carrying a pellet gun he mistook for an assault rifle....

Deputy Erick Gelhaus, 48, fired multiple rounds in response to what he believed was an imminent threat of death, Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch announced at a news conference.

'While in the lawful performance of his duty, Deputy Gelhaus was faced with a highly unpredictable and rapidly evolving situation,' Ravitch said. 'He believed honestly and reasonably that he was faced with a do-or-die dilemma.'

'While this was an absolute tragedy it was not a criminal act,' Ravitch said.

Gelhaus shot Lopez on October 22 as the teen walked near his home with the pellet gun. The deputy told investigators he believed the gun was real and opened fire out of fear for his life.

At least one witness said he heard the deputy order Lopez to drop the pellet gun before shooting, Ravitch said.

Gelhaus fired eight times, striking the eighth-grader seven times with his department-issued 9 mm handgun.

The district attorney said Gelhaus had 18 rounds in his gun and stopped shooting when he felt the threat had ended....

[null and void]

JBT Ping list

It's ALWAYS* a righteous shoot.

* unless there are multiple witnesses with video and the full glare of public exposure...

[rey]

Why was the deputy there? Clearly, he was called. Someone else was concerned about the weapon this kid was carrying in a crap neighborhood. It is not mentioned in any article over the past several months why the deputy was called to the scene.

Things that were not printed in the paper; the kid was suspended from school; his parents are illegals; it is rumored he threatened a woman with the weapon and that is why the police were called. People will say what difference does this make? True enough, but in a story of another youth shot in Windsor the paper points out he was an “A” student, parents employed. Why is it relevant in one case and not another?

Easy to arm chair qb the thing. Gelhaus is an Iraq vet. He has seen plenty of the AKs. Now QB this; yu are an Iraq vet, you are told someone is threatening people in a toilet of a neighborhood with a weapon, you show up, you see a sizable male (He did not appear as a 13 year old at your vacation Bible camp) with a weapon who turns to face yu weapon in hand.

And for the open carry folks (I am a fan of open carry). There is a difference between a slung weapon in a rural environment and carrying openingly in NYC. There is a difference between farmer Brown in rural Iowa and a young MExican in gang colors with an AK in hand in a crap neighborhood in a well populated area where nearly every other house is a grow.

Look at the pictures; the weapon looks real enough to me. Look at the 4 year old kid punching a effigy of the deputy; the communty’s attitude is a combative one.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/topics/andy_lopez
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20140707/articles/140709709
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20140707/articles/140709706
pictures
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/gallery/gallery/20140707.707009996.html

[null and void]

Dey say you was hung!

Dey wuz right!

(or did you mean he should be hanged?)

[camle]

lemme see, he had this AK-74 lookalike, with the orange tip removed, and he had a pistol likewise with the orange tip removed. sounds like a thug to me, trying to intimidate people with his ‘weapons’. where were his parents when he a) got the guns, and b) removed the orange tip. he purposely led people top think that they were real guns rather than toys. the cop was correct to have the impression that the kid wanted him to have - that they were real.

stupid kid paid the price for being ‘a tough guy’

[Uncle Chip]

Investigators have said 10 seconds elapsed between the time Gelhaus and a trainee reported a 'suspicious person' and then reported shots fired to dispatchers. The trainee did not open fire.

10 seconds -- to stop the car, pull his gun, yell at the kid, get out of the car, stoop behind the door and the engine, wait for a response, fire 8 shots, then call dispatch to report shots fired.

And the trainee who was on the drivers side closer to the kid and more directly vulnerable if he did fire never fired.

[Uncle Chip]

Who are you kidding??? Cops with brains are fully aware that there are toys looking like real things out there but a trained cop who teaches firearms to trainees should be able to tell the difference. Even an untrained eye can see which is the toy.

And even if it was real what gives him the right to shoot the carrier in the back — within less than 10 seconds of seeing him???

[kcvl]

A 4-year-old boy punched and stomped on a piñata with an image of Gelhaus’ face before other protesters joined in. Several people wore shirts adorned with the image of Lopez and chanted in Spanish “Para Andy, justicia.”

[Uncle Chip]

So it is now open season on all kids legally carrying their toyguns???

[kcvl]

[puppypusher]

Should have painted that pellet gun orange/Sarc.

[Robert Teesdale]

Otherwise we could shoot police officers on sight with no repercussions, if simply carrying their firearms constituted a threat.

Be patient, they are getting us to that point of threat as fast as they can.

[rey]

He wasn’t shot in the back, he was shot in he side as he spun around. His arms were raised as he raised the weapon in hand. All the witnesses verify this. That was why one round was in his side and not his arm as it would be if his hands were at his side. He was shot seven out of eight rounds fired.

Excessive? Read “Handgun Stopping Power” by Marshall and Sanow and note how many mortally shot, in fact dead perps shoot people.

The deputy was within the guidelines. If he was a light em up kind of guy, he likely would not have made it through Iraq.

I am all for police operating according to the same guidlines service personel in Afghanistan and Iraq operate by; do not fire unless fired upon, but I do not think we will be happy with the results.

As a poster noted abouve, he wanted people to think the weapon was real, the officer obliged.

[Fresh Wind]

Why would you shoot a dead boy? Waste of ammunition.

[kcvl]

Protesters for Andy Lopez

Carrying a replica AK47 assault rifle down a street, after being warned by people in the area to put it down, was not a good decision. Turning toward a law enforcement officer with the weapon was another bad decision.

Removing the orange plugs off the ends of two airsoft guns (unlawful)

A juvenile out in public with airsoft BB guns (unlawful) Parents told Andy not to take the realistic guns out in public

Friends warned Andy not to walk down the street with the realistic looking guns.

[NorthMountain]

Easy to arm chair qb the thing. Gelhaus is an Iraq vet. He has seen plenty of the AKs. Now QB this; yu are an Iraq vet, you are told someone is threatening people in a toilet of a neighborhood with a weapon, you show up, you see a sizable male (He did not appear as a 13 year old at your vacation Bible camp) with a weapon who turns to face yu weapon in hand.

I'm not sure you intend this, but you just built the foundation of an argument for NOT hiring combat veterans to be public servants in the police department.

[rey]

Yep. Lovely image. Did you see the one of the kids punching the effigy?

Look at the size of some of the protesters. Do you see anyone dressed respectably?

[eyeamok]

There is No Statute of Limitations on MURDER, A new DA could file and convict tomorrow.

[NorthMountain]

lemme see, he had this AK-74 lookalike, with the orange tip removed, and he had a pistol likewise with the orange tip removed. sounds like a thug to me, trying to intimidate people with his ‘weapons’. where were his parents when he a) got the guns, and b) removed the orange tip. he purposely led people top think that they were real guns rather than toys.

I observe that this incident occurred in heavily gun-controlled California, in an area heavily populated by illegal aliens. I suggest for consideration that if honest citizens were not obstructed from arming and defending themselves, and if illegal aliens were routinely deported, then junior grade thugs would be less likely to commit (simulated) armed robbery.

[rey]

“I’m not sure you intend this, but you just built the foundation of an argument for NOT hiring combat veterans to be public servants in the police department. “

Certainly not. My point is this deputy had way more experience than most and saw a threat. If a combat vet felt threatened it is probably safe to say there was a threat.

I remember a fire fghter at a party where people were burnng stuff in the fireplace. The fire fighter felt concerned and expressed concern. He encouraged people to leave the building. He was right. It wasn’t paranoia. The fire got out of control and he likely saved everyone.

[Uncle Chip]

He was in the process of turning around to his right with the gun in his left hand to see who was yelling at from behind.

Gelhaus was by then hiding behind his car door and the car engine.

The first shot went into his right chest and probably killed him but Gelhause continued to shoot while the kid was on the ground with his head away from him — 8 shots.

All this within 10 seconds.

There is no defense for this —