Deputy fires on man who brandished fake gun
WOODINVILLE, Wash. -- A King County Sheriff's deputy fired at a man who pulled a gun on him Thursday afternoon near Woodinville, only to later find out the gun was a toy, police said.
No one was hurt.
Deputies were called to the area where Woodinville-Duvall Road intersects with Mink Rd. NE after drivers reported a man waving and pointing a gun at passing cars, said department spokesman William Akers.
When the first deputy arrived and found the man, the man repeatedly ignored commands and pulled out what appeared to be a black gun from his waistband, Akers said.
The man then raised the gun and the deputy fired several shots. The man was not hit but fell to the ground, at which time he was taken into custody, investigators said.
Police later determined it was a toy replica and the man is a resident of a nearby group home for developmentally disabled adults.
Deputies are still investigating the scene.
"We are grateful no one was injured in this dangerous situation," King Co Sheriff Steve Strachan said in a statement to the media.
No one was hurt.
Deputies were called to the area where Woodinville-Duvall Road intersects with Mink Rd. NE after drivers reported a man waving and pointing a gun at passing cars, said department spokesman William Akers.
When the first deputy arrived and found the man, the man repeatedly ignored commands and pulled out what appeared to be a black gun from his waistband, Akers said.
The man then raised the gun and the deputy fired several shots. The man was not hit but fell to the ground, at which time he was taken into custody, investigators said.
Police later determined it was a toy replica and the man is a resident of a nearby group home for developmentally disabled adults.
Deputies are still investigating the scene.
"We are grateful no one was injured in this dangerous situation," King Co Sheriff Steve Strachan said in a statement to the media.
FOX is saying it was a gun made out of legos and that the custodian was right there with the guy. Gets weirder and weirder.
@Blindman  Well, I suppose that we should ban these "assault Legos". I'm saying, if a person can make them look like a gun, then that is just too dangerous. Ban the Legos. if it saves one life, it is worth it. And, ban cheese slices, because kids can eat their slice of 'Murican cheese into the shape of a gun, as well.Â
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I'm glad the Deputy and the guy are not hurt, HOWEVER, I am very concerned that the Deputy missed with "several" rounds. I wonder where they ended up at??? Maybe Deputy needs to hit the range a bit more.
Thank God our officers are terrible shots....I guess....
 @kbbcoop Really? Most I know could enema a gnat with a .40 all day long.
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But they are FEDS.
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Good points on this web site. My combat pistol training, most engagement are 5 yards or less, plus you are totally terrified!! I saw folks at 5 yards that could not even hit the paper.Â
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One guy, we had to pull the gun from. He was so scared he almost shot another student! And he was already employed as a armored bank truck guard. Yikes!
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This was divine help. Glad it worked out. This guy has been given another chance.
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I'm glad that the Sheriff's deputy didn't kill the guy; not for the guy's sake, but for the psychological toll a homicide can have on a person.
I am so glad that the man was not hurt. However, I can not comment about him being in custody. I know developmentally disabled can mean a wide range of issues. If he is server, I do not think he should be in custody but the caregiver who let him out should be. This is a hard one to call without knowing all details of the man.
Can you clarify what you meant by "If he is server"? No idea what that means.
You have to combine the nature of the call with the shape of the object that came out of the waist band. Â Ever been in a life and death situation? Â Bet your hand will be shaking 1-inch each way while you are in the fight. Â Now, try to shoot at a target, quickly, while somebody draws a gun and appears to be trying to shoot you.... Â You will probably miss....90% of the time. Â You can train to shoot, but when the adrenalin squirts, all bets are off. Â The outcome in this case was ideal. Â
"the deputy fired several shots. The man was not hit" Whereas I am glad the man was not killed, Doesn't anyone have a concern about the deputy needing to shoot to save a citizens life against a REAL bad individual (NOT Developmentally disabled) when he can't hit what he's shooting at? Sounds like retraining time to me.
Officer might have pulled HIS fake gun by accident instead.
If the Officer was familiar with the area, he may well have know there was a group home there and knew the person was vulnerable. Good work by the Officer involved.Â
 @SFP If that was true, WHY did he shoot then?
I'm a little concerned as to why this guy wasn't hit, if it was a real gun then the officer might of been killed.
 @3rase Very true, but it sounds like you don't have much experience with firearms. It's not that easy to hit someone with a handgun especially when your trying to find cover.
God, this idiot is very lucky he didn't get hit!
 @Zoso Others are lucky that the officer's missed shots didn't hit them.
Fake gun, real bullets, not to smart there McFly!
Sounds like the facility's supervision needs some oversight if the patient was wandering and brandishing what appeared to be a gun and this illustrates, again, how politicions have largely made the cops the front line of contact for the mentally ill. Sometimes this has a terrible outcome.
 @Citizen#3457899654 I had the same thought you had.  Why was he out in the first place?  Someone's going to lose their job.
The gun was made out of Legos and the officer could not tell the difference, get some glasses officer, your blind, which also accounts for your shooting accuracy
 @DhnrÂ
That whole situation was probably done in 2 seconds or less. Â From the time that the guy pulled a "gun"...it takes the average human 1.5 seconds to see the threat, recognize the threat, and then begin to react. Â Studies have shown that police officers are behind every time in these situations.
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When your life is in danger (even if it is perceived) fine motor skills are thrown out the window...your body changes into survival mode and it is all large muscles reacting and the through processed because very tunnel like.
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That he did not hit the subject within 1-2 seconds of reacting to a life threatening situation is not surprising and that he did not recognize the gun as not being a gun...is also not surprising.  Both are not reasonable expectations.  I am glad that no one was hurt but the deputy did what he/she was supposed to do within their training and human abilities.
 @Dhnr Have you seen them, they look very real from a distance, something I wouldn't expect and officer to identify or take very long in trying to identify.  Pulled from a waste band and pointed at you it only takes a second to react.Â
Great job by the cop. Don't know if he was just a bad shot or whether he intentionally fired off a couple of close shots to scare the guy into dropping the gun. But glad to see. Could have ended quite badly.
 @Blindman When a police officer fires their weapon, they are not shooing to scare you or make  you drop something.  They are shooting to stop you from doing what you are doing, which means they are aiming to hit you.
 @wsmith_84  @Blindman I know thats the policy and thats the training but there are a few officers that are actually smarter than that. Don't know what happened in this case. But I'm glad it ended well. We know how the SPD would have dealt with this.
 @DylanJ  @wsmith_84 The officer may have had doubts. FOX is saying that it was a gun made out of legos.lol I would think a cop should be able to distinguish between a lego toy and real gun.  Cops are supposed to be trained to not panic. But if you haven't been in a shooting situation before its pretty easy to get amped up.
 @Blindman  @wsmith_84 smarter than that? you'd be an idiot if you as a police officer had a gun pointed at you and didn't aim to hit the person
I think you guys are missing an important peice of this story: "man is a resident of a nearby group home for developmentally disabled adults." I worked with developmentally disabled adults for a lot of years, and this person most likely has the mental capacity of a child. The important questions is where were the group home employees at while their client was in the road playing with a toy gun?Â
 @JustMe98201 The original story did not have this information.  It was added with the update, hence the confusion on the posts.
Everyone with the Darwin jokes and who is dogging this person; what part of developmentally disabled phrase do you have a problem comprehending?
Maybe you're all stopped mentally developing at around age 5 yourselves?
 @Larry*X*K It was added later to the story, the first version didn't have it
 @Komo Dragon thanks that explains so I deleted my other comments
 @Larry*X*K will do the same
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 @Larry*X*K Chill guys! The article had not been updated with that info when I read/commented on it.
@dB @Larry*X*K "the man is a resident of a nearby group home for developmentally disabled adults." You might try reading the article again.
Someone needs to go back to the range...
I'm sure you would have put numerous holes in him when he raised the gun while you're firing from a safe distance. You gonna join up?
 @StringerJoe chances are he couldn't hit a beach ball from 5 meters
Fired several shots and missed and this person is authorized to carry a gun, I think his certification needs to be pulled
 @DhnrÂ
Dhnr...we need experts like you in the field. Â Please sign up and let me know how that goes.
You assume the bad guy was stationary. More difficult than you think to hit ANY moving target let alone one that you believe is trying to kill you.
I am afraid of guns. I don''t own a gun but I do have a very heavy, solid stainless steel meat cleaver, for my immediate use..
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Yet, I just purchased a fake gun. AND I am intelligent enough as to not be so stupid as to present it to any policeman. It's ONLY to scare off any stupid perp who may try to invade my home. And, I am not regretful of this choice.
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If I was comfortable and trained for a real fire arm, I wouldn't hesitate to use it on any dumb-ass criminal who might try to try anything against me.
@Yadayada I can understand your fear of guns, my wife will not carry but will shoot here at home or the range. Trash the toy and go buy some OC spray, a few shots of that s&%t can stop just about anyone and there's no messy precious bodily fluids to clean up.Â
 @Yadayada So your got a FAKE gun to "scare" a "stupid perp" who may try to invade your home??????  I PRAY you don't ever have someone actually break into your home. We'll be reading about your UNFORTUNATE experience in the news.
@Yadayada I agree with the other statements. BAD idea. I would really suggest taking a basic handgun course to get yourself familiar with real firearms and then make a good informed decision. Fear of a firearm can be overcome with practice and training. What if the "perp" wasn't scared of you if you pulled out your toy gun? What then? What if he thought it was real and you wound up shot?
 @Scott Thank you, Scott. I find myself in emotional terror right now because of an accidental killing of a family member, by his brother.....that's where my fear comes from. I know you are right, and I need to conquer this fear of real guns.
 @Yadayada  @Scott Very sorry for your loss! Don't feel obligated to get the gun if you truly don't feel you would be safe using it due (very understandably!) to the effect of your family's history.Â
The main point here is, lose the fake gun; it's much more dangerous than being empty-handed or going with the meat cleaver.Â
And even if you hadn't been through what you did, anyone can benefit from gun safety and proficiency training.Â
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 @Yadayada That's a bad idea. If the perp has a gun and decides to shoot you... You're better off with the meat cleaver.
Don't bring a toy to a gun fight, you'll end up dead. You can get good training for hand guns and hunting in Washington and it's not too costly.
 @DDG I appreciate your comment and know you are right, but my home is very secure and I would only use it through a window, strictly as a deterrent. Like I said, it is only for a deterrent for the majority of dumb ass criminals who wouldn't know that it was fake.
 @Yadayada  @DDG Sooner or later, that will get you killed. You don't show a weapon to intimidate or threaten....if you show a gun it's because you are in fear for your life and you are ready to use it. A fake gun serves no purpose in self defense. None. You show a fake gun to the wrong criminal and they will shoot you dead, in your house or not.