Colorado Boy Waves Toy Gun in Virtual Class, Police Visit

A boy in Colorado Springs has been suspended after waving a toy gun toward his web camera during an online art class.

The boy, a 12-year-old student at Grand Mountain School in Widefield School District 3, was at his home attending a virtual class when he became bored and picked up an airsoft gun and waved it at the screen.

His mother, Danielle Elliott soon received an email notifying her of her son's behavior, to which she immediately responded that the gun was a toy. In fact, like all toy guns, the gun had an orange tip, and half of it was made of bright green plastic.

However, this did not stop the school from taking precautions as they asked the school resource officer, Deputy Steven Paddack of the El Paso County Sheriff's Office to pay a visit to the boy's home.

While the boy was not arrested, Officer Paddack did inform him that he could have been charged with Interference with an Educational Institution.

Elliott, the boy's mother, is African American and had this to say about the encounter:

Especially with the current events, with Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy getting killed over a toy gun, you know these things are very scary and they're very real. This is not the first time my son has faced racism or discrimination or anything like that.

The boy has since been suspended from Grand Mountain School and because of the ordeal, his mother is planning on enrolling him in a different school.

[KOAA News5]