By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN Associated Press
The parents of an eighth grader who was fatally shot by police inside
his South Texas school are demanding to know why officers took lethal
action, but police said the boy was brandishing — and refused to drop —
what appeared to be a handgun and that the officers acted correctly.
The weapon turned out to be a pellet gun that closely resembled the real
thing, police said late Wednesday, several hours after 15-year-old
Jaime Gonzalez was repeatedly shot in a hallway at Cummings Middle
School in Brownsville. No one else was injured.
"Why was so much excess force used on a minor?" the boy's father, Jaime
Gonzalez Sr., asked The Associated Press outside the family's home
Wednesday night. "Three shots. Why not one that would bring him down?"
His mother, Noralva Gonzalez, showed off a photo on her phone of a
beaming Jaime in his drum major uniform standing with his band
instructors. Then she flipped through three close-up photos she took of
bullet wounds in her son's body, including one in the back of his head.
"What happened was an injustice," she said angrily. "I know that my son wasn't perfect, but he was a great kid."
Interim Police Chief Orlando Rodriguez said the teen was pointing the
weapon at officers and "had plenty of opportunities to lower the gun and
listen to the officers' orders, and he didn't want to."
The chief said his officers had every right to do what they did to
protect themselves and other students even though there weren't many
others in the hallway at the time. Police said officers fired three
shots.
Shortly before the confrontation, Jaime had walked into a classroom and
punched a boy in the nose for no apparent reason, Rodriguez said. Police
did not know why he pulled out the weapon, but "we think it looks like
this was a way to bring attention to himself," Rodriguez said.
About 20 minutes elapsed between police receiving a call about an armed
student and shots being fired, according to police and student accounts.
Authorities declined to share what the boy said before he was shot.
The shooting happened during first period at the school in Brownsville, a
city at Texas' southern tip just across the Mexican border. Teachers
locked classroom doors and turned off lights, and some frightened
students dove under their desks. They could hear police charge down the
hallway and shout for Gonzalez to drop the weapon, followed by several
shots.
Two officers fired three shots, hitting Gonzalez at least twice, police said.
David A. Dusenbury, a retired deputy police chief in Long Beach, Calif.,
who now consults on police tactics, said the officers were probably
justified.
If the boy were raising the gun as if to fire at someone, "then it's
unfortunate, but the officer certainly would have the right under the
law to use deadly force."
A recording of police radio traffic posted on KGBT-TV's website
indicates that officers responding to the school believed the teen had a
handgun. An officer is heard describing the teen's clothes and
appearance, saying he's "holding a handgun, black in color." The officer
also said that from the front door, he could see the boy in the
school's main office.
Less than two minutes later, someone yells over the radio "shots fired"
and emergency crews are asked to respond. About two minutes later,
someone asks where the boy was shot, prompting responses that he was
shot in the chest and "from the back of the head."
Administrators said the school would be closed Thursday but students
would be able to attend classes at a new elementary school that isn't
being used.
Superintendent Carl Montoya remembered Gonzalez as "a very positive young man."
"He did music. He worked well with everybody. Just something
unfortunately happened today that caused his behavior to go the way it
went. So I don't know," he said Wednesday.
Gonzalez Sr. said he had no idea where his son got the gun or why he
brought it to school, adding: "We wouldn't give him a gift like that."
He said he last saw his son around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, when the boy
said goodbye before leaving to catch the bus to school. And he said
nothing seemed amiss the night before when he, his wife and their son
went out for nachos then went home and watched a movie.
Gonzalez Sr. was struggling to reconcile the day's events, saying his
son seemed to be doing better in school and was always helpful around
the neighborhood mowing neighbors' lawns, washing dogs and carrying his
toolbox off to fix other kids' bikes.
Two dozen of his son's friends and classmates gathered in the dark
street outside the family's home Wednesday night. Jaime's best friend,
16-year-old Star Rodriguez, said her favorite memory was when Jaime came
to her party Dec. 29 and they danced and sang together.
"He was like a brother to me," she said.
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Associated Press writers Diana Heidgerd and Danny Robbins in Dallas, and Mike Graczyk in Houston contributed to this story.
Nancy Blanco and her husband Arturo Carreon comfort their two children across the street from Cummings Middle School in Brownsville, Texas. A 15 year-old student was shot and killed by Brownsville police. (AP)
