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Keller police warning about kids using pellet guns in public
Keller police are sending out a warning to parents and kids about people using fake guns that look real.
KELLER, Texas - Keller police are sending out a warning to parents and kids about people using fake guns that look real.
911 dispatchers are seeing an increase in the number of calls about people shooting airsoft-style guns in public and near businesses.
Police shared a photo comparing a real gun to a pellet gun.
Police say it seems like young adults are just messing around, but others who don't know the guns aren't real may see the pellet gun as a threat and defend themselves with a real weapon.
"If I’m out and about, and somebody gets out of a car and starts shooting, they don’t have the time to go examine, ‘Oh is that a toy gun? Is that a real gun?’" Keller PD Community Service Officer James Intia said.
Police are warning parents and kids about the dangers of pulling out airsoft-style guns in public after a recent increase in 911 calls around the city, including public spaces and near businesses.
"Mainly high school aged kids, driving around, getting out and shooting at people," Intia explained.
As a mother of a teenage boy, Andrea Johnson calls that unacceptable behavior.
"I wouldn’t want him to do that, and I would be really upset if he was a part of that," she said.
"It’s a dangerous thing to do, if you ask me," parent Billy Childress said.
And that’s the Intia wants to get across.
"What we’re afraid of is that these actions of a person who has maybe a concealed carry or something like that might take action and it might turn deadly," he said.
Intia said the number of calls about shootings with pellet guns started going up a few weeks ago, just as the summer began.
And he suggests this holiday weekend is the perfect time for parents to have a conversation with their children about using toy guns.
"Just educating them on, you know, what could happen and what it could be mistaken for," Johnson said.
"As a parent, I would never buy something like that for my kids. There are other toys out there. They don’t need that," Childress said.