UPD: BB gun incident could have turned deadly
By: Chelsea Rarrick
Updated: January 9, 2013
It was a situation that could have turned deadly.
"It's just mind-boggling," said Utica City School parent, Marcus Reed.
On Tuesday night, police say an off duty officer at a basketball game at Donovan Middle School in Utica noticed a teenage boy walk across the court and drop something, something that turned out to be a handgun.
Police say they chased the teen who picked the gun up and ran out of the building.
Outside, police say that's when the 14-year-old pointed the gun at one of the officers.
After ordering him to drop the gun, the teen eventually dropped the weapon.
Police then learned the weapon had been a BB gun.
"Having a handgun pointing at you, there's nothing more risking than that," said Sgt. Hauck with the Utica Police Department.
Sgt. Hauck says there's training that's involved in handling these kinds of situations.
"The took the training, their experience, and their own sensibilities and made the decision to not fire, and to end it peacefully. Those are decisions that another officer maybe he would have felt it was necessary or she would have felt necessary to fire," said Sgt. Hauck.
And while the weapon ended up being a BB gun and no one was hurt, Sgt. Hauck says that hasn't always been the outcome.
"A man pointed a gun at the police officer and as a result of that, the officer fired, the man was killed and later it was found it was an imitation gun," said Sgt. Hauck.
Comparing the BB gun and a regular pistol, Sgt. Hauck says it can be hard to tell the difference between the two.
"If you're walking around the streets with these BB guns and think they're toys, they're not. We have no way of knowing," he said.
And real gun or not, some Utica City School District parents say they hope this situation is a lesson learned.
"That kind of stuff is not tolerated. I tell my kids that they are not allowed to have any kind of gun. No plastic guns. No kind of guns," said Marcus Reed.
While the incident at Donovan Middle School has some parents on edge, security officials at Utica City Schools want to reassure parents that they have security plans in place at the schools.
Eyewitness News spoke with the security director of the school district.
He says an incident like the one at the middle school was an isolated one.
He says they have a school resource officer, like the one at Tuesday's game, at the middle school and the high school.
"Our security plan working with the UPD, we're probably a little bit different than other districts throughout the state because we work hand in hand with UPD and we have access to officers and everything that we need from that," said John Syrotynski, Security Director.
Syrotynski says he applauds the SRO and the off-duty officer for the way they handled Tuesday night's situation.
"It's just mind-boggling," said Utica City School parent, Marcus Reed.
On Tuesday night, police say an off duty officer at a basketball game at Donovan Middle School in Utica noticed a teenage boy walk across the court and drop something, something that turned out to be a handgun.
Police say they chased the teen who picked the gun up and ran out of the building.
Outside, police say that's when the 14-year-old pointed the gun at one of the officers.
After ordering him to drop the gun, the teen eventually dropped the weapon.
Police then learned the weapon had been a BB gun.
"Having a handgun pointing at you, there's nothing more risking than that," said Sgt. Hauck with the Utica Police Department.
Sgt. Hauck says there's training that's involved in handling these kinds of situations.
"The took the training, their experience, and their own sensibilities and made the decision to not fire, and to end it peacefully. Those are decisions that another officer maybe he would have felt it was necessary or she would have felt necessary to fire," said Sgt. Hauck.
And while the weapon ended up being a BB gun and no one was hurt, Sgt. Hauck says that hasn't always been the outcome.
"A man pointed a gun at the police officer and as a result of that, the officer fired, the man was killed and later it was found it was an imitation gun," said Sgt. Hauck.
Comparing the BB gun and a regular pistol, Sgt. Hauck says it can be hard to tell the difference between the two.
"If you're walking around the streets with these BB guns and think they're toys, they're not. We have no way of knowing," he said.
And real gun or not, some Utica City School District parents say they hope this situation is a lesson learned.
"That kind of stuff is not tolerated. I tell my kids that they are not allowed to have any kind of gun. No plastic guns. No kind of guns," said Marcus Reed.
While the incident at Donovan Middle School has some parents on edge, security officials at Utica City Schools want to reassure parents that they have security plans in place at the schools.
Eyewitness News spoke with the security director of the school district.
He says an incident like the one at the middle school was an isolated one.
He says they have a school resource officer, like the one at Tuesday's game, at the middle school and the high school.
"Our security plan working with the UPD, we're probably a little bit different than other districts throughout the state because we work hand in hand with UPD and we have access to officers and everything that we need from that," said John Syrotynski, Security Director.
Syrotynski says he applauds the SRO and the off-duty officer for the way they handled Tuesday night's situation.
