“Sir why have you got a gun out? They’re kids!”
There were panicked scenes in Georgia on Monday as a police officer held six Black teens at gunpoint.
Videos posted on social media show fraught neighbors crying and begging the officer not to shoot the boys, who stood with their hands in the air.
Although the video does not show what led up to the tense standoff, captions accompanying the outraged posts claimed the friends were simply taking a well-used short cut to the local store.
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The four-and-a-half minute clip shows a lone officer with his weapon drawn, pointed at the heads of the teenagers, who are reportedly aged between 13 and 15.
“Sir why have you got a gun out? They’re kids!” one frantic woman can be heard pleading. “They’re babies!”
“Please, don’t shoot! Don’t shoot sir!” another begs, but the officer never lowers his gun.
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“Nobody’s going to move,” a man can be heard telling the officer, but he refuses to budge.
“Its okay y’all, we got you, it’s all right,” one of the women assures the boys, as they keep their cellphones trained on them too.
As the crowd demands the officer explain why he has his gun out if the teens aren’t armed, he finally barks back “I’ll check them for myself…. I don’t feel safe.”
“I’m sick… I can’t. This is too much,” the woman recording concedes, finally breaking into tears.
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Thankfully, nobody gets shot. A second officer arrives and they begin frisking the boys, finding nothing.
One of the friends can be heard explaining that they were taking a cut-through, after the officer asks them to explain why they were where they were.
The teens are then allowed to go on their way, as the officer speeds off in a squad car.
Following the community outrage over the incident, Clayton County Police Department vowed it would release body cam footage on Tuesday, as well as the 911 call it said led to the confrontation.
“What everyone is seeing is a small portion of the entire incident,” it claimed on Facebook.
“Chief Kevin Roberts remains committed to being transparent and accountable to our community.”
Community members are already petitioning for the officer to be fired.
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