Two St. Louis County police officers shot a 19-year-old man in September after he allegedly pointed a BB gun at them near Manchester Road. Ceneca Peterson survived the shooting with injuries described as not life-threatening and now faces criminal charges stemming from the encounter.
The incident began when a 911 caller reported a person pointing a gun at cars in the 14000 block of Manchester Road, according to fox2now.com. Drivers on Manchester had separately reported seeing a man pointing a gun at vehicles, the outlet reports. Police located Peterson near Manchester and Weidman roads, and he ran from responding officers before the confrontation that led to gunfire in a parking lot in the 300 block of Weidman Road, according to the same report.
Officers Said the BB Gun Looked Real
Officers said Peterson pointed a BB gun in their direction, prompting them to open fire, striking him twice. According to a county police spokeswoman cited in the fox2now.com report, the BB gun resembled a standard firearm. The BB gun mimicked a black semi-automatic firearm. Peterson was taken to the hospital, and his injuries were not life-threatening, the outlet notes.
The shooting happened around 5:45 a.m., per the same account. Both officers involved have been placed on administrative leave, which the department has called standard protocol. One of the officers is 34 years old with eight years of experience, while the other is 25 and has one year on the job, fox2now.com reports.
Charges and Bond
The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's Office charged Peterson with two counts of fourth-degree assault and one count of resisting arrest, according to the report. Missouri's fourth-degree assault statute, Missouri Revised Statutes section 565.056, covers the offense referenced in the charges. Peterson is being held on a $50,000 cash-only bond, the outlet reports.
Part of a Wider Pattern Nationally
Peterson's case is part of a broader pattern of police encounters involving replica firearms that look nearly identical to the real thing. Since 2014, at least 320 people have been shot and killed by police while holding replica guns, including 19 minors, according to cbsnews.com. More than 12 million BB and pellet guns were purchased in the United States in 2023 alone, the outlet reports, and only 23 states and the District of Columbia currently regulate the sale and possession of non-powder guns.
Other recent cases illustrate the danger of mistaking replica weapons for real ones. On April 26, 17-year-old Brandon Salgado was killed by police in Long Beach, California, while allegedly committing a home robbery with a replica gun, per the same cbsnews.com report. On May 1, 14-year-old Damian Scott Cadena Haglun brought what looked like a long gun to a middle school in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, and was killed by police outside the building; police determined it was a pellet rifle. And on June 28, 13-year-old Nyah Mway was shot and killed by police in Utica, New York, after officers said he pulled what looked like a handgun that turned out to be a Umarex Glock BB gun.
