KENNER, La. — You've likely read about cases where teens and adults were shot and killed by police for carrying what looks like a real gun.
Kenner police were recently faced with a similar situation, but with a better ending.
Today, we got to see the guns side-by-side. Picking them up didn't help either, because they felt like they were the same weight and same kind of metal.
There are hand guns, revolvers and semi-automatic rifles. Are they real? If so, which ones?
Early Saturday morning, a man who lives on Roosevelt near Veterans, could not tell.
“He is coming up my ramp. ‘Help me, help me, they're trying to kill me.’ I'm looking around and he's like, ‘They're on top of the roof’ I'm thinking this guy's on drugs, or he's having a psychic {SIC} breakdown. And he's like, ‘Hold this, hold this, hold this.’ And it's a gun wrapped in a thing and I'm like, ‘Man, get that away from me,’” said an eyewitness and neighbor.
Kenner police officers answered 911 calls of a man aiming a gun at cars driving by. They drew their guns and told the man to drop his weapon.
“It's a threat. It's a threat not only to them, but to the general public. I would say if that individual did not drop that weapon, it'd be a whole different story today,” Kenner Police Chief Keith Conley said.
That's why he wants you to see the weapons side-by-side. He says imagine if you're an officer on the scene.
“They have a split second to make a determination and as you see with these weapons, if that's pointed at you, they're going to eliminate that threat," Conley said. "In the last six years, over 300 people have been shot by, by the authorities when they approach somebody with these kind of weapons."
Another neighbor says once you're 18 you can buy one of the look-a-like BB guns from big box stores. He did.
“When my mom saw me come out the room with that gun for the first time, she was highly upset. (She thought) I was going to get shot by police, honest to God,” said the young man.
Both he and the chief want the BB gun clearly changed so there is no confusion out on the streets. On Saturday the man was taken into protective custody. The rifle was a BB gun, but it just adds to what the Kenner neighborhood and police have to deal with regularly in the area.
The chief says some of the real firearms and BB guns are made by the same manufacturer, or they sell the licensing for the designs and markings to toy companies so they can replicate their weapons.
He now plans to talk to lawmakers to get guidance to how to move forward to make the weapons look different.
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