Police officer in New York state kills 13-year-old boy carrying a BB gun

Madrid, June 30 (Europa Press) –

Police have reported the death of a 13-year-old boy in suburban Utica, New York, after he was shot by an officer who claimed he was armed with a compressed air pistol.

The victim is Nyah Mwe of Burmese origin, who was shot at around 10:20 pm on Friday night. According to the police version, the boy and another minor were stopped by officers while they were walking on the street.

A video circulating on social media shows the boy running down a dark street while three police officers chase him. One of them manages to knock the kid down and the others join in later while several passersby scold the agents.

One of the women present yells, “Be careful, be careful. This is being recorded.” Another of the attendees yells, “Oh my God! He shot him!” Police have reported that during a “struggle on the ground” the teen was knocked down and shot. The boy died at Wynn Hospital in Utica due to the severity of the chest wound.

Already on Saturday, a press conference called by the authorities to explain what happened became an act of protest against police violence with the presence of 50 members of the deceased child’s family. One of the posters displayed read, “Our parents did not flee the war so that the police would kill their children.”

Utica Police Chief Mark Williams told a news conference they wanted to be transparent and explained how the boy pulled out a fake Glock pistol that later turned out to be a compressed air pistol during the chase.

“There are a lot of emotions in this room, but it’s very difficult when they ask us for transparency and yell at us,” Williams said, according to the local press. Utica’s mayor, Michael Galim, was also present at the press conference and said it was a routine search that “turned into a tragedy in a matter of seconds.” He also promised that recordings of the personal cameras the agents were wearing would also be published.

The three officers have been suspended from employment, not salary, and their names will be published “soon,” said the police, who announced that an internal investigation is underway. The police also warned that the video spread on the network “does not reflect the entire incident.”