Family: Teen Shot to Death by Cop Had Wii Controller

Officer thought he had a gun
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Suggested by DanPaul
Posted Feb 20, 2014 12:40 PM CST
Family: Teen Shot to Death by Cops Had Wii Controller
In this product image released by Nintendo, Nintendo's Wii MotionPlus controller is shown.   (AP Photo/Nintendo)

A 17-year-old in Georgia was shot to death by a police officer in his own home last week, reports the Daily Tribune News, and his family now says it was a tragic mistake. The attorney for the family of Christopher Roupe tells WSB-TV that the teen wasn't holding a gun when he answered the door—it was a controller for the Nintendo Wii. Police arrived at the home Friday night to serve a warrant for a probation violation on Christopher's father. The officer who fired the fatal shot told investigators that Christopher pointed a gun at her when he answered the door.

Not so, says the attorney. “The eyewitnesses on the scene clearly state that he had a Wii controller in his hand," he says. "He heard a knock at the door. He asked who it was, there was no response so he opened the door and upon opening the door he was immediately shot in the chest." The TV station also talks to a neighbor who says he saw the officer immediately after the shooting. "She put her head in her hands and she was sobbing," he says. The officer, who has a decade of law enforcement training and experience, is on leave as the Euharlee Police Department investigates. (More police shooting stories.)

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