Munich police shoot Kurdish teenager, mistaking toy gun for real weapon
Police in Munich shot a 14-year-old Kurdish refugee boy, saying they believed the toy airsoft pistol in his hand was a real gun.
RastinewsPolice in Munich shot a 14-year-old Kurdish refugee boy.
Officers in Munich's Schwabing district opened fire on the boy, mistaking his airsoft pistol for a real gun. He was critically wounded and underwent surgery. Hospital officials said his condition was stable.
The boy's family, who arrived in Germany from Turkey three years ago and applied for asylum, dispute the police account. They say he was shot even though he shouted "It's a toy!" and threw the gun to the ground.
The Kurdish Center in Munich has backed the family's version of events. The Munich prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into whether the officer's use of force was lawful.
The shooting took place Tuesday in Munich's Schwabing district. Initial reports said police had shot an armed man in his 20s.
Hours later, authorities said the critically wounded person taken into surgery was in fact a 14-year-old Turkish national, and that the object he had been carrying and playing with in the street was "an object resembling a real handgun."
According to the latest reports in the German press, what police officially described as "an object resembling a real handgun" was in fact a toy gun.
Such weapons, identical in appearance and weight to real firearms and used in the airsoft sport with 6-millimeter plastic pellets, are known as airsoft guns.
It remains unclear why the 14-year-old was carrying a toy gun that looked real. Two details have drawn attention: he was shot in the upper body, and police and his family have given conflicting accounts of what happened.
What police say
According to a police spokesperson, a resident near the Hohenzollernplatz stop called police around 5:15 p.m. Tuesday to report a person carrying a gun, who then boarded a bus heading toward Kurfürstenplatz.
The spokesperson said police deployed a team of 80 officers to locate the suspect, and that two plainclothes officers found him.
Police said officers ordered the suspect, who was walking alongside a teenage girl, to stop. He then pulled "an object resembling a weapon" from his pants and "made motions as if loading a gun." Despite being warned to drop the weapon, he "turned toward the two officers with the gun raised," and after he pointed it at them, one officer opened fire.
The emblem on a Bavarian police uniform.
Bavarian police said in a statement that the officer who fired believed the gun in the boy's hand was real. Photo: picture-alliance/S. Simon
According to the police statement, officers gave the boy first aid until paramedics arrived. He was taken to hospital in critical condition by ambulance and underwent surgery. The statement said his condition was stable.
Family disputes police account
The boy's family and the Kurdish Center in Munich say the police account does not reflect what actually happened.
Speaking to German media, the family said the boy repeatedly shouted "It's a toy gun!" and threw it to the ground, but that police shot him anyway.
The family said that despite his critical wounds, an officer put a foot on the boy's body, insulted him and handcuffed him.
According to the family, the handcuffs were removed only after paramedics who arrived by ambulance requested it.
Who is the Turkish teenager?
According to police, the critically wounded 14-year-old is the son of a family that arrived in Germany from Turkey three years ago and applied for asylum.
The family's asylum application was rejected, and they are in deportation proceedings, officials said. Police also said the 14-year-old, a student, had previously been investigated for assault.
/DW/