COLUMBUS – Bodycam video of a Columbus police officer lecturing two boys about the dangers of carrying toy guns has gone viral.
According to the Division of Police Facebook page, Officer Peter Casuccio was called out to a gun run at 5:30 Saturday afternoon near the intersection of Brentnell and Holt Avenues on the Northeast Side and when he got there he discovered an 11-year-old boy was carrying a BB gun.
Casuccio gave the 11-year-old and his 13-year-old companion a stern talking-to before taking him home where the officer also had a talk with his parents.
It was four years ago when Cleveland police officers shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was carrying an airsoft replica firearm.
Casuccio told the boys that carrying BB guns or replica weapons is “getting kids killed all over the country.”
He asked the boys if they think he wants to shoot them. The officer says, “I pride myself on being a pretty bad hombre cause I got to be. Don’t make me.”
“The last thing I ever want to do is shoot an 11-year-old man, ‘cause your life hasn’t even gotten started yet,” Casuccio told the boy. “And it could have ended, ‘cause I wouldn’t have missed…you could be gone.”
The boys apologized.
Casuccio told the 11-year-old’s mom what had happened. She told her son, “He could have shot you for that.”
As of early Tuesday morning, the YouTube video posted by the division had been viewed more than 25,000 times and the Facebook post had been liked and shared more than 300 times and the story had received national attention.