COLUMBUS – Columbus police say a 13-year-old armed robbery suspect shot and killed by an officer in an East Side alley Wednesday night had a BB gun with a laser sight attached.
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Tyree King was fatally shot by an officer after King pulled a gun from his waistband after he and another suspect were confronted by officers in an alley near the intersection of Hoffman Avenue and E. Broad Street, Division of Police spokesman Sgt. Rich Weiner said.
Officers responding to a report of an armed robbery in the area of S. 18th Street and E. Capital Street at 7:42 p.m. were told by the victim that a group of individuals had approached him, one of them brandishing a gun, and demanded money, Weiner said.
Weiner says the officers saw three males matching the descriptions of the suspects and tried to speak with them, when two of them ran off. The officers followed them to an alley in the rear of 27 Hoffman Street when King pulled a gun and an officer shot him multiple times.
King was taken to Nationwide Children’s Hospital, where Weiner says he was pronounced dead at 8:22 p.m.
Crime Scene Search Unit detectives found what appeared to be a handgun at the shooting scene and determined it was a BB gun with an attached laser sight, Weiner said. The weapon has been taken to the division’s property room and the investigation is continuing.
Anyone with any information is asked to contact Columbus police at 614-645-4624.
The Critical Incident Response Team, made up of specially trained investigators from the Homicide Units, will investigate the incident and forward its findings to the Division of Police Firearms/Police-Involved Death Review Board and the division’s commanders.