NEW YORK — A rookie police officer shot and killed a 14-year-old boy on a street early Sunday after he refused to drop his gun and pointed it at them, authorities said.
Shaaliver Douse died of a single gunshot to his jaw after the confrontation in the Melrose section of the Bronx.
Two officers with the New York Police Department were on foot patrol when they heard gunfire at around 3 a.m. The officers responded to the scene and found the boy with a 9mm handgun firing shots at a fleeing man, authorities said.
The officers identified themselves as police and ordered him to drop his weapon, authorities said.
When he pointed his gun at them, one of the officers shot him, police said. Douse was pronounced dead at the scene.
The two officers had joined the department in January.
Douse had been in trouble with the law before.
He was charged in May with attempted murder after a 15-year-old boy was shot in a Bronx neighborhood where Douse lived. That shooting took place 2 miles from where Douse was later shot to death.
Douse was also charged with assault, criminal possession of a weapon and menacing in connection to the incident.
The prosecution of Douse was then deferred, said Steven Reed, a spokesman for the Bronx District Attorney’s Office. The office had insufficient evidence to proceed, and the victim was unable to identify his shooter, he said.
The case was still open, Reed said.
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