Police draw guns on unarmed teen
The Fairfax County Police Department vows to investigate an incident where police pointed a gun at an unarmed juvenile who was recording a police incident on his phone.
At the time, police were detaining another group of juveniles outside the IHOP on Arlington Boulevard by Annandale Road.
The actions of the two offers will be investigated, and the “findings will be shared with our community,” Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Jeffrey McKay stated on Twitter. “The pointing of a firearm prompts an internal review that will be monitored by the Independent Police Auditor who reports directly to the Board.”
The video shows an officer approaching the juvenile with her gun drawn. The teen says, “why you pointing a gun at me?” The officer’s response is “because you have a weapon.” The teen is then heard saying, “no weapon, no weapon.” Another officer, also with his gun drawn, yells at him to get on the ground.
The video was posted on Reddit on the subreddit “Bad_Cop_No_Donut,” then was widely shared on Twitter where it went viral with over 1.4 million views.
According to multiple news outlets, three or four teens had showed up at the IHOP at about 7 p.m. on July 9 and brandished a gun in front of the hostess. The teens left, but then returned at about 11 p.m. and waited outside for the employee.
When police arrived, the teens fled but two of them were captured in a nearby parking lot. The police didn’t find any weapons on them.
At that point, another teen who was not involved in the IHOP incident walked by and started recording the scene on his cell phone. That’s when the officers pointed their guns at him.
According to the police department, the officers thought the bystander was one of the teens involved in the IHOP incident who wasn’t caught. They ordered him to get on the ground at gunpoint because they thought he had a weapon. The three juveniles were detained and later released to their parents.
Click here to listen to the police communication during the incident.
18 responses to “Police draw guns on unarmed teen”
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ummm the teen was a suspect in an armed incident. The teen ran away from the police. The teen turned around toward police with something in their hand. You are darn right the police should have drawn their weapons. The teen should apologize and be thanking their lucky stars the office didn’t shoot. The police officers involved should be given citations for their outstanding behavior.
Mark (and Max), did you watch the video. I didn’t think so. The person recording the video was walking towards the incident, not running away from it. He was not a suspect, he was a pedestrian recording a a police interaction (“At that point, another teen who was not involved … walked by…”) The police were “detaining another group of juveniles.” A male officer noticed him recording and instructed the female officer to “stop him.” She walked toward him with her gun aimed at him, he asked why she was pointing a gun at him, and she said that he had a weapon which brought the attention of another officer yelling at him to get on the ground. While at the same time, he can be heard saying “no weapon, no weapon.”
From your comments, not only did you not seek out the video, you barely read the article. Judgmental much?
Alex – clearly you have no appreciation of the officers point of literal view…It’s dark and someone is walking up on a tense scene – you think the officer has x-ray vision like superman? – Again, whom ever this person saying “bro you look dumb” is lucky he was not shot. Perhaps Fairfax Public School needs to teach civics instead of….well…lets leave it at that.
That civics class would probably start with “if someone holding a cell phone calls you dumb, you do not shoot them.”
It appears he wasn’t part of that group. He was a different teen who was walking by on a public street and decided to record a very loud police arrest. Then the police pointed guns at him and detained him without cause. Mistaken identity. Otherwise they’d have later charged the individual. Instead we get a long police investigation.
The police should have drawn weapons based on the circumstances. Is someone suggesting a different approach should have been taken? If so, provide your reasoning. Can’t wait to hear it.
Perfectly understandable that the officers would draw their weapons. They don’t have time to fully analyze every aspect of a situation, they have to make quick decisions while trying to protect themselves. If the teen recording video was also walking toward them while they’re trying to handle the other teens, that’s all the more reason to point a gun at him. No shots fired, no harm done.
You obviously (and it seems like the Fairfax county police too) never took gun safety training. You don’t aim your gun unless you intend to shoot.
Separate from that, the idea that in the face of any unknown that anyone (especially the police) should assume that their life is in danger is utterly preposterous.
If it’s not, why don’t you and every coward who wants to suit up in body armor to go get a coffee, pull your guns on people on the regular?
Because despite what the cops, and more often their supporters, say, neither you or they are in danger. How many Ffx county cops have been killed in the line of duty ever? Like 6. And even less are by gun violence.
Look it up, if you really are interested. Look up the statistics.
But I suspect you aren’t. You just don’t like the brown kids and want the Law to put them in their place.
She was at the high ready. You got the verbiage of that rule wrong. Those rules are not always applicable to dynamic situations. You prove yourself sophomoric. And then you pull the race card. Lolz.
Joe M – your point is correct – so, I am assuming the officer had good judgment. She was intending to shoot someone that may have been pointing a gun at her. She then noticed it was not a gun. Was she supposed to ask him “sir is that a gun.” Clearly you have never been in an armed confrontation…
Only ‘like 6’ huh (according to the Fairfax Police website, its really 5)? Why bother looking up the statistics you know so well when only 5 police officers in Fairfax County have died in the line of duty (and ONLY 2 by gunshot). Obviously the police are not in danger. Well, there are those 58 who were shot dead in the first 9 months of 2021 (nationwide). But that’s an irrelevant digression.
Perhaps you could overhaul the entire police training protocol and teach them to keep guns in their holsters or even leave them at home, while also eliminating the cowardly behavior of wearing body armor. You could explain to the families of future dead officers that they were never really in danger.
Meantime, it might be a good idea to stay away from crime scenes with your stupid cell phone and let the police do their jobs. The officers would probably not even have noticed juvenile no. 5 had he simply moved on or even if he had stayed away from the immediate area. Oh wait, was he ‘brown?’ Never mind, most EVERYONE is racially motivated, especially cops and a lot of the people who write comments on Annandale Today. That kid’s lucky to be alive with all the trigger happy cops and brown people hating cowards at the coffee shops!
Thank you Fairfax County Police for doing your jobs. Stay safe!
I think the moral of the story is to mind your own business!
Need to see all the bodycam and other footage to understand what happened here. If this had been in broad daylight, where police can see it’s a cell phone rather than a gun, that would be very different. But if you’re going to inject yourself into a dangerous looking police situation in the dark and you have no clue what’s even going on…I’d be more careful. Recording the police is everyone’s “business”, but this can happen. We will learn eventually what really went down, when we are privy to the POV videos and taped audio of the cops.
Hopefully everyone watched the newly released surveillance video showing what actually happened. It’s clear the “innocent bystander” filming the incident was one of the thugs involved and is lucky he didn’t get shot.
Uh oh. What say you, Joe M?
Not that I’m the best at the internet, but I can’t find this new footage anywhere…
Thank you, FCPD. Good work.
https://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2022/07/fairfax-co-police-release-body-cam-footage-of-gun-pointing-incident/
Police released bodycam and surveillance videos (wtop has it) that showed the juvenile holding the camera was part of the same group that was being arrested, and that group had been identified as potentially having a concealed gun from IHOP employees who were supposedly threatened.
It kind of establishes the officer’s perspective that they were detaining a group of juveniles – one of whom was reported having a gun.