COLUMBUS, Ohio – A police officer responding to a reported armed robbery shot and killed a 13-year-old boy when the teen allegedly pulled a firearm from his waistband that was later determined to be a BB gun, police said Thursday.
The shooting happened around nightfall Wednesday in an alley east of downtown Columbus after a short foot chase.
READ MORE: 911 caller could face charges after man with BB gun shot dead by police
Columbus police said officers responded to a report of an armed robbery involving multiple suspects and were told by the victim that a group of people had approached him and demanded money. The victim said one of them had a gun.
Police said the officers saw three males matching the descriptions of the suspects and tried to speak with them, when two of the suspects ran.
“Officers followed the males to the alley … and attempted to take them into custody when one suspect pulled a gun from his waistband,” police said in a statement early Thursday. “One officer shot and struck the suspect multiple times.”
The suspect, later identified as Tyree King, was taken to a children’s hospital, where he died.
WATCH: Police in Ohio responding to a report of an armed robbery shot and killed a 13-year-old boy who they said pulled a gun from his waistband that was later determined to be a BB gun.
The person with King was identified, interviewed and released pending further investigation. Police said additional suspects were being sought. The officers and the other suspect were not injured.
Police said upon further investigation they determined the boy’s gun was actually a BB gun with an attached laser sight.
The police officer who fired the shots was a nine-year veteran of the Columbus police force who had recently transferred to the area, NBC news reports.
The shooting will be reviewed internally, which is required under Columbus Division of Police protocol, and the officers involved will receive psychological councelling.
The incident comes almost two years after the killing of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy who was shot dead while holding a pellet gun in Cleveland, Ohio.
In December, a grand jury declined to indict the white officer who shot Rice, but the city of Columbus agreed to pay $6 million dollars in a settlement to his family.
In April, Ohio police shot and killed a 22-year-old man who was holding a BB gun in a store, after a concerned shopper called 911. Police arrived to the scene and fatally shot the suspect, only to realize the weapon the victim had was a BB gun taken from a shelf of the store.
WATCH: 911 caller could face charges after man with BB gun shot dead by police
*With files from Global News
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