© San Bernadino County Sheriff’s Office
Officers shot dead an American teenager with autism last weekend. Bodycam footage shows that the boy approached the officers with garden tools. “But at that moment he had already calmed down,” said the family lawyer.
Saturday, March 16, 2024 at 9:22 AM
The fatal incident took place just before 5 p.m. (local time) last Saturday in Apple Valley, California. A relative of Ryan Gainer, a 15-year-old boy with autism, had made a 911 call to say the teen was “attacking family members and damaging property in the home.” “They need to answer him,” a woman can be heard saying in the released recording of the call.
Gainer was reportedly angry because he wasn’t allowed to listen to music on his laptop because he had to do his chores first. “For most parents, that is normal discipline,” said family attorney DeWitt M. Lacy. “But in someone with autism it can cause a more dramatic response.”
An angry Gainer then allegedly punched his sister in the arm and smashed a glass of the front door with garden tools. “911 was called, but the boy eventually calmed down and apologized,” Lacy said. “That was also reported by telephone to the security services.”
However, at that time a team was already on its way to the house. “The deputy immediately pulled his weapon on the teen,” Lacy said. “The situation immediately escalated. It was also not the first time that law enforcement had to visit, so the family assumed that the officers knew that the boy had autism.”
The official police statement later said that the first deputy arrived at the home a few minutes after the call and was immediately confronted by Gainer, “who was armed with garden tools approximately five feet long.” The boy then allegedly brought up “the sharp end” and ran toward the deputy. After a warning, the deputy shot the boy. He received medical attention at the scene, but later died in hospital from his injuries.
Bodycam footage released this week shows how his colleague walks to the doorway, after which Gainer appears with items in his hands that the security forces describe as a frying pan and garden tools. Footage from the second deputy shows Gainer running toward the first deputy as the latter points his gun at the teen. The preliminary investigation shows that both deputies fired their weapons and a total of three shots were fired.
Family members can be heard screaming in the background of the videos. “Why did you shoot my baby? Why didn’t you use a taser?”