Prosecutors in Arizona will review whether to bring charges in the fatal shooting of a 14-year-old boy by a Tempe police officer.
Antonio Arce, 14, was holding a replica gun when he was shot to death last month by a police officer who responded to a call about a suspicious vehicle.
The officer, Joseph Jaen, found Antonio burglarizing a truck, police have said. The teen fled holding the non-lethal airsoft gun, and was running away when the officer shot him, body camera footage shows.
The police department has sent its investigation of the 15 January shooting to the Maricopa county attorney’s office for review, officials said Wednesday night.
“As with all officer involved shootings, the Maricopa county attorney’s office will review the facts of this case and ultimately make a charging decision,” the Tempe police department said in a statement.
The case has sparked outrage and protests in the Arizona city.
“I want justice for my son. I need justice,” the boy’s mother, Sandra Gonzalez, cried at a rally.
“Police have their jobs, but their job isn’t to kill innocent people,” the grieving mother told the Arizona Republic, saying her fleeing son posed no threat to police.
Protesters disrupted a Tempe city council meeting at the end of last month, demanding that both the officer and the police chief be fired.
“There’s blood on your hands,” one woman told city officials.
Body camera footage shown to reporters but not made public shows officers approaching Antonio’s body in the alley where he was shot, handcuffing him and beginning chest compressions, according to the Associated Press.
The officer who fired the shots realizes the suspect was a minor and the gun was not real. “It’s just a fucking kid,” Jaen says. “It’s a fucking toy gun, man. What the fuck?”
Another demonstration is planned for the next city council meeting next week. “We urge Arizona community, politicians, teachers and elected officials to take a stance against the crisis of police brutality in this state. In January alone, six teens were shot at by police in Maricopa county. Two of them died,” say the groups behind the protest, which include Tempe Against Police Violence and Poder in Action.
A counterprotest in support of the police is also planned.
The officer, a 14-year veteran of the Tempe police department, has been placed on administrative leave.
“This was a rapidly, rapidly evolving situation,” the police chief, Sylvia Moir, said at a press conference after the shooting. “I urge everyone to withhold judgment until the criminal and administrative investigations are concluded.”
