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http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/6278326p-6155672c.html
Pellet guns land teens in trouble
FRED MEYER: Five teens jailed after playing shooting game in store.
By TATABOLINE BRANT
Anchorage Daily News Published: March 17th, 2005
Last Modified: March 17th, 2005 at 03:12 AM
Five teenagers firing at each other with pellet guns inside the Muldoon Fred Meyer were arrested Tuesday night after security guards and police, who believed the weapons were real handguns, surrounded the store.
No one was injured in the episode, but several of the kids involved, their parents and police agreed later that the situation, which ended when police swept into the store with shotguns and handguns, "could have turned into something ugly real quick," as one police spokesman put it.
Police and parents said the boys' plastic weapons -- 6mm semi-automatic BB pellet guns -- looked like real pistols. They were so real in appearance, in fact, one boy's father said he had warned his son before the incident about the dangers of carrying one around.
Armed officers ultimately surrounded three of the boys in the DeBarr Road store's electronics section and ordered the kids to get on the floor. The other two boys tried to flee out a side door when armed officers confronted them and ordered them to freeze and drop their weapons.
Derik Dorgan, 17, said in an interview Wednesday that he had four to six guns pointed at him during one tense moment but said, "I was actually more scared of what my parents would think," His father, Charles Hubbard, said all five of the boys are good kids who generally stay out of trouble and get good grades.
"They know it was a stupid mistake," he said. "I'm just grateful the police were calm. I mean they want to go home at night too."
Another boy's parent, Lisa Culligan, agreed.
"After what just happened over at the Dimond Center, I'm surprised they didn't get shot," she said, referring to the gang-related shooting earlier this month at the South Anchorage mall, which left a 14-year-old dead and another teen injured. No arrests have been made in that incident.
Police spokesman Ron McGee said the Dimond Center shooting, which was followed by threats of retaliation, must have crossed the minds of officers as they sped to the Fred Meyer on Tuesday around 9 p.m.
"The officers don't know what the situation is," McGee said. "Is it connected to the Dimond mall shooting? Something else? We have no idea. It was reported as 'people with guns,' so of course it is very scary."
Private security guards at the store had called police after seeing the five boys show up in two vehicles armed with what they thought were bona fide handguns.
"The security personnel acted appropriately," McGee said. "They saw these guys out in the parking lot pointing guns at each other."
The teens went into the store and began firing at one another as they ran around the sporting goods, furniture and home sections.
Authorities had no way of knowing the teens were playing a friendly game of "air soft," which the boys would later explain entailed trying to hit each other with the pellets. Anyone hit had to take a "time out" in the store's electronics section.
Officers swept through the store, surrounding the three boys in the electronics section and the other two near the exit.
McGee said the kids were immediately responsive to the officers' commands.
"Thank goodness they didn't make no subtle mistakes," said Hubbard, the father. "The police did say the boys were polite."
The teens told police they were just "messing around" and hadn't thought about how the game might panic others, McGee and family members said.
All five boys were charged with reckless endangerment. The three juveniles were taken to McLaughlin Youth Center and later released to their parents.
Ryan Duel and Apollo L. Culligan, both 18, were jailed on $1,000 bail.
At their arraignment Wednesday, Duel and Culligan, both Bartlett High seniors, swallowed hard as the judge explained the maximum penalty for the Class A misdemeanor: up to 1 year in jail and a $10,000 fine.
Both teens were appointed attorneys. Hubbard pleaded with the court to remove a third-party custodian requirement so that the boys could return to school, but the judge said that wasn't immediately possible.
Hubbard said afterward that he hoped the court would show mercy on the boys, some of whom have hopes for college.
"Incidents like this close doors," he said. "I understand why the police would want to make an example out of them. (But) I would hope that the court system would see that they're good kids. It was a mistake more than anything else."
Hubbard said his son bought several of the pellet guns used Tuesday at a store in the Northway Mall called PacKnives. He questioned why the weapons were sold to a minor and said he wishes he had taken them away from his son when he first discovered them.
Kevin Rossignol, owner of PacKnives and also a Daily News employee, said that while some models of plastic pellet guns are authorized by manufacturers for ages 14 and older, his store does not sell the weapons to anyone under 18. People under 13 aren't allowed into the store at all without an adult, a sign on the door says.
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stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid kids.
Pellet guns land teens in trouble
FRED MEYER: Five teens jailed after playing shooting game in store.
By TATABOLINE BRANT
Anchorage Daily News Published: March 17th, 2005
Last Modified: March 17th, 2005 at 03:12 AM
Five teenagers firing at each other with pellet guns inside the Muldoon Fred Meyer were arrested Tuesday night after security guards and police, who believed the weapons were real handguns, surrounded the store.
No one was injured in the episode, but several of the kids involved, their parents and police agreed later that the situation, which ended when police swept into the store with shotguns and handguns, "could have turned into something ugly real quick," as one police spokesman put it.
Police and parents said the boys' plastic weapons -- 6mm semi-automatic BB pellet guns -- looked like real pistols. They were so real in appearance, in fact, one boy's father said he had warned his son before the incident about the dangers of carrying one around.
Armed officers ultimately surrounded three of the boys in the DeBarr Road store's electronics section and ordered the kids to get on the floor. The other two boys tried to flee out a side door when armed officers confronted them and ordered them to freeze and drop their weapons.
Derik Dorgan, 17, said in an interview Wednesday that he had four to six guns pointed at him during one tense moment but said, "I was actually more scared of what my parents would think," His father, Charles Hubbard, said all five of the boys are good kids who generally stay out of trouble and get good grades.
"They know it was a stupid mistake," he said. "I'm just grateful the police were calm. I mean they want to go home at night too."
Another boy's parent, Lisa Culligan, agreed.
"After what just happened over at the Dimond Center, I'm surprised they didn't get shot," she said, referring to the gang-related shooting earlier this month at the South Anchorage mall, which left a 14-year-old dead and another teen injured. No arrests have been made in that incident.
Police spokesman Ron McGee said the Dimond Center shooting, which was followed by threats of retaliation, must have crossed the minds of officers as they sped to the Fred Meyer on Tuesday around 9 p.m.
"The officers don't know what the situation is," McGee said. "Is it connected to the Dimond mall shooting? Something else? We have no idea. It was reported as 'people with guns,' so of course it is very scary."
Private security guards at the store had called police after seeing the five boys show up in two vehicles armed with what they thought were bona fide handguns.
"The security personnel acted appropriately," McGee said. "They saw these guys out in the parking lot pointing guns at each other."
The teens went into the store and began firing at one another as they ran around the sporting goods, furniture and home sections.
Authorities had no way of knowing the teens were playing a friendly game of "air soft," which the boys would later explain entailed trying to hit each other with the pellets. Anyone hit had to take a "time out" in the store's electronics section.
Officers swept through the store, surrounding the three boys in the electronics section and the other two near the exit.
McGee said the kids were immediately responsive to the officers' commands.
"Thank goodness they didn't make no subtle mistakes," said Hubbard, the father. "The police did say the boys were polite."
The teens told police they were just "messing around" and hadn't thought about how the game might panic others, McGee and family members said.
All five boys were charged with reckless endangerment. The three juveniles were taken to McLaughlin Youth Center and later released to their parents.
Ryan Duel and Apollo L. Culligan, both 18, were jailed on $1,000 bail.
At their arraignment Wednesday, Duel and Culligan, both Bartlett High seniors, swallowed hard as the judge explained the maximum penalty for the Class A misdemeanor: up to 1 year in jail and a $10,000 fine.
Both teens were appointed attorneys. Hubbard pleaded with the court to remove a third-party custodian requirement so that the boys could return to school, but the judge said that wasn't immediately possible.
Hubbard said afterward that he hoped the court would show mercy on the boys, some of whom have hopes for college.
"Incidents like this close doors," he said. "I understand why the police would want to make an example out of them. (But) I would hope that the court system would see that they're good kids. It was a mistake more than anything else."
Hubbard said his son bought several of the pellet guns used Tuesday at a store in the Northway Mall called PacKnives. He questioned why the weapons were sold to a minor and said he wishes he had taken them away from his son when he first discovered them.
Kevin Rossignol, owner of PacKnives and also a Daily News employee, said that while some models of plastic pellet guns are authorized by manufacturers for ages 14 and older, his store does not sell the weapons to anyone under 18. People under 13 aren't allowed into the store at all without an adult, a sign on the door says.
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stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid kids.
