Louisville Metro Police warns about children carrying fake guns in community

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Louisville Metro Police officials are warning the public about recent incidents where children have been seen riding bikes with masks and fake firearms.

LMPD Deputy Chief Ryan Bates said in a June 25 news conference that children as young as nine years old have been found with replica or toy guns while wearing masks and riding their bikes. The department is encouraging parents to talk with their children, as well as check their phones and social media accounts.

“They’re very hard, as you can see, to discern from an actual firearm so one of our concerns with this would be misidentification either by law enforcement or by an armed civilian,” Bates said. “We’re just using this as a moment to ask parents to talk to their kids, try to see what they’re doing.”

Spokesperson Aaron Ellis said while there is no documented incidents of the behavior, officers have seen similar occurrences in a few areas of the city at various times over the past few weeks. He said while it is not illegal, it is seen as a concern to the department when thinking about what “the type of encounters these could turn into.”

“Our biggest concern is someone is going to take these guns for actual deadly weapons, and an encounter will turn violent or deadly,” Ellis said.

LMPD is encouraging parents and guardians to have discussions with their children “before something tragic happens,” he said.

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Reach Marina Johnson at [email protected].