LITTLE ROCK — A West Memphis police officer shot and killed a 12-year-old boy late Friday night, mistaking the child's silver toy gun for a real handgun, authorities said Saturday.
The shooting occurred about 9:53 p.m. while two officers were on a stakeout hoping to break a string of convenience-store armed robberies near North 24th Street and Goodwin Avenue.
The officers waited in the dark parking lot of the Steeplechase Apartments just south of Interstate 40 and Interstate 55. They saw two people, yelling and running, and got out of the car to confront them, Assistant Police Chief Mike Allen said.
For more information see today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Subscribers can read the story here on ArkansasOnline.