US police shoot dead boy, 13, with BB gun following armed robbery report

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Tyree King, 13, was shot and killed when he appeared to pull a BB gun from the waistband of his trousers. Credit: PA

Police in Ohio shot dead a 13-year-old boy with a BB gun when they responded to reports of an armed robbery.

Tyree King was shot multiple times when police followed him and another person they suspected of being involved in the robbery to an alley and the teenager appeared to pull a gun from the waistband of his trousers.

The gun later turned out to be a BB gun with an attached laser sight.

Officers in Columbus had been called to the reported armed robbery on Wednesday night, and at the scene the victim had told them he had been approached by a group of people who demanded money from him, and that one of them had a gun.

Police saw three males matching the descriptions given to them by the victim, and when they tried to speak with them, two of them ran away.

The pair were followed to an alley, and when officers tried to arrest them the teenager pulled the BB gun from his trousers.

No one else was injured in the incident.

The shooting is under investigation.