So the boy who died was black?? Oh boy the NAACP is going to have a field day....

Here's the article.
[url]www.cleveland.com/crime/plaindealer/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/cuyahoga/9985590142406743.xml[/url]


Boy, 13, slain by BB; reward in 2 killings

08/23/01

Olivera Perkins and Scott Stephens
Plain Dealer Reporters

The 13-year-old boy who was fatally shot as he picked pears Tuesday evening was killed by a BB gun.  

Raymond Bozak died after the pellet entered his back and perforated his lungs, said Cuyahoga County Coroner Elizabeth Balraj.

"If it goes through any of the vital organs, it can cause bleeding and you can die," Balraj said.

No suspects have been arrested, Cleveland Police Chief Martin Flask said during a news conference yesterday.

Raymond was picking pears in front of Cavotta's Garden Center on Nottingham Rd. in Collinwood with two of his brothers and two neighborhood boys when an older-model car with two men inside drove by.

The man in the passenger seat fired a shot at the children, striking Raymond. The gunman reportedly stuck his head out the window and laughed as the car sped away.

Frank Cavotta, whose 9-year-old grandson was picking pears with Raymond, said yesterday that a steady stream of people has added items to a makeshift memorial under the pear tree.

The people have left teddy bears, angel statues and marigolds.

Cleveland City Council President Michael Polensek, who represents the area, said that by late morning he had received dozens of calls from people who asked the same question.

"They wanted to know why," he said. "How could someone do something like this?"

Said Jo Walker, president of the Nottingham Civic Club: "I have no words to describe it, except to say the devil is working overtime."

Raymond's death came a day after Harun Frizzell, 17, was shot in the head and robbed of his Chevy Blazer and his Nike sneakers outside his girlfriend's house on E. 147th St. in the Lee-Harvard neighborhood.

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George Forbes, president of the Cleveland branch of the NAACP, held a news conference yesterday to decry the recent shootings, which he called "tragic, callous and horrific." He announced that the NAACP and his law firm were offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrests and convictions of the killers of Harun and Raymond.

Forbes said it is important that the reward money come from Cleveland's black community, even though Raymond was white. The reward will send a stronger message than prayer vigils and other activities, he said.

"We'll pray for their souls after they get caught," he said.

In Collinwood, some residents think prayer is essential to healing. Polensek and the Nottingham Civic Club are having a prayer service at 7 tonight at Nottingham United Methodist Church, 18316 St. Clair Ave. A community meeting will follow.

Cavotta said the boys who were with Raymond were devastated by his death. Cavotta said some of them slept with their parents Tuesday because they were afraid that the gunman would hunt them down, too.

"They keep saying: All we were doing was picking pears,' " Cavotta said. "They are pretty numb right now and full of fear."

The Rev. Francis Mulvanity, pastor of St. Paul Catholic Church of Euclid, said he is working with the family to get counseling for Raymond's brothers.

The deadly shot has devastated a family and a neighborhood. For years, the 40-year-old tree's ripe fruit has drawn children who live nearby, their laughter a reminder of their innocence.

"It was always a nice little symbol of togetherness," Cavotta said. "Now it has become a symbol of something terrible."


Plain Dealer reporters Sarah Hollander and Mike Tobin contributed to this article.

I have a VERY hard time believing that this was a BB. Couldn't it have been a stray part of a shotgun round fired elsewhere? I've been shot with a BB gun and all it did was leave a welt. I doubt a BB traveling at even 1,000 fps could penetrate a human that far.

There is absolutley positivley no way in holy hell a BB from an air gun could do that.

This month's [i]American Rifleman[/i] reviews a Gamo air rifle capable of firing a .177 caliber pellet at supersonic (1100fps+) speed, so, yes it's theoretically possible.  But you'd have to hit something more vital than a lung, I'd think.  Aorta maybe?

They have a few accidental deaths involving airguns in England every year (so they're trying to ban those now).  Usually it's a head-shot, though.

What the hell!? so now we get BBgun laws to.
The anti.s will not even stop to feel bad about the dead kid.

Most unfortunate incident.  I know some people have used air guns to take out birds.  It could cause the anti-gunners to push to classify all or certain airguns(i.e. firing projectiles faster than 500 feet per sec etc) as firearms.

A steel bb traveling 1000ft/s could penetrate and do the dammage.  Teh must weight about 20-25gr.

Contact your local socialist democRats and request a bill banning anything traveling over 100ft/s.

Poor kid [:(]

I suspect that the deadly projectile was actually a lead pellet and not a BB.  It seems more likely that a journalist would fail to make that distinction than that a BB could penetrate a boy's body and [b]both[/b] lungs.

Actually, the weight of a steel BB is closer to 8 grains.

I know a guy who shot a large dog that was crapping on his lawn with a pellet gun.  The dog died.  Probably a fluke.  I have a really hard time believing this poor boy was killed by a BB gun.  I've been shot with one too.  Stings, thats about it.

I think he could've been killed by a BB. Every now and then you about some freak accident like this where it just hits in the right place. A pellet would make more sense though.

could have been a 22 caliber pellet gun some of those get around to aout 22 short velecity

I bet the shooter is shitting bricks.  Cruel as shooting kids with BB guns is, you can bet he wasn't trying to kill anyone.  

I find this very hard to believe, but who knows.

Mayor Daley in Chicago used a tragedy to advance his agenda.  A Chicago Cop approached a Bru-ha-ha to break it up, when one of the fighters (a convicted felon) pulled a pistol and shot the cop in the head.  Mayor Daley's first words concerning this evernt were that this proves that we need more gun control laws to honor this fallen officer.  What a moron!  The media reported sadly that there was little chance of passing more gun control laws this year.  

If I ever get shot, and someone suggests that more gun control laws should be passed to honor my memory, I will be really pissed.

It may well have been a .22 or .177 pellet but BB's have caused a number of fatal injuries over the years.

They generally occur with the BB entering the eye and penetrating the brain causing death. There have been fatal injuries inflicted by torso shots as well.  All it takes is an injury to an artery and you bleed out in a few minutes or less.

NJ considers air pistols a firearm, which requires a pistol permit to possess, and treats BB's as ammunition, which requires a firearms ID card to purchase.  NYC has banned air guns for more then 25 years.

Maybe it was a single "BB" from a 12 gauge?

That dosn't speak to the lethality of air guns nearly as mucg as it does the idiocy of those places.
I think Michigan has rescrictions on certian Air guns too!

I think there will be some federal restrictions soon anyway, since some air guns have officialy broken the sound barrier, and are pretty bad ass now.