Sheriff's deputy deadly shot a 13-year-old boy after he didn't drop a pellet gun that looked like an assault rifle in Santa Rosa, Northern California.
According to the authorities, two Santa Rosa sheriff's deputies were driving by when they spotted the boy walking with the rifle. Andy had his back to the officers, so they were not able to realize he was a boy.
"They called for backup and ordered him twice to drop the gun. The teenager was around 20-30ft away when he turned towards them. He was holding the weapon in his left hand," said Lt Paul Henry of Santa Rosa Police. "He began to turn toward his right in the direction of the deputy, and he moved the gun toward the deputy, and the deputy's mindset was that he was fearful he would be shot."
They opened fire after repeatedly asked Andy Lopez to drop the replica rifle as they believed it was real.
"It's very tragic and sad. It just happened so quick," Noel Nunez, 15, a sophomore at Elsie Allen High School, told Associated Press.
Preliminary autopsy results reported Andy was shot seven times, two of them deadly shots that hit him in his right tip and right side of his chest.
"Andy Lopez borrowed the replica assault rifle from a friend," said Rodrigo Lopez, father of the boy. "He was walking to the other boy's home to return it, it's not right what they did to my son."
Hundreds of community members marched Wednesday night from Santa Rosa City Hall to the place Andy was shot asking for justice holding balloons with messages like "RIP Andy" and candles.
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