KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- In a few tense moments, a Kansas City, Kansas police officer made the decision to spare the life of a 13-year-old boy.

She told KCTV5's Lynn Kawano on Thursday why she didn't shoot the teenager, even though he had a gun pointed at her and she had a shot at him.

The boy was being counseled Wednesday at the Wyandot Center for Community Behavioral Healthcare, Inc., at 7840 Washington Ave.

He overpowered several mental health workers, then he pushed the Kansas City, Kansas police officer, before he pulled out the weapon, Lynn reported live on "KCTV5 News at 5 p.m."

"He pointed the gun at me and said, 'You don't want it to end this way,'" said Officer Sandra Omtvedt.

Omtvedt, an eight-year veteran of the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department, pulled her own gun.

She said she thought, "'I'm going to have to kill this man. I don't want to do that,' but I was prepared to do that," Omtvedt said.

She didn't fire at him because two women walked right into the line of fire.

"The officer's restraint ... It's hard to estimate what would have happened if she had not done that," said Peter Zevenbergen, executive director of the Wyandot Center.

Omtvedt said everyone there was lucky.

"We were all very lucky, all the people in that building, myself included, the staff and the young man that no one was hurt," Omtvedt said.

Prosecutors charged the 13-year-old with aggravated assault on a police officer and criminal possession of a firearm.


www.kctv.com/Global/story.asp?s=2224274