Arrest of boy, 12, with toy gun was by the book, says Met commander

Daily Telegraph Reporter

A MET commander has defended officers who arrested a 12-year-old who was brandishing a toy gun, insisting they “acted in line with training”.

A team of police with sniffer dogs stormed the home of Kai Agyepong in Camden, north London, on the evening of July 17 after a call from a member of the public who claimed to have seen a black male holding a firearm.

In reality, it was a BB pellet gun that had been fitted with a blue slider to distinguish it from the real thing.

Kai’s mother, Alice, criticised the police, saying her family felt “utterly violated” by the incident.

After being shown the BB gun, the police still conducted a full search of the premises lasting more than an hour. Ms Agyepong said her son had “undoubtedly” been racially profiled.

She said the Metropolitan Police had explained the incident by saying gang members often left knives and firearms with younger boys in the hope they would be less likely to be discovered.

Commander Kyle Gordon, the Met’s lead spokesman on firearms, said: “As the public would rightly expect, we take every report of a firearm seriously in order to protect our communities.

“Officers attending reports such as this must treat them as genuine until they can verify whether or not an actual firearm is present. Based on the information at hand, the officers acted in line with their training and my expectations, enabling the incident to be concluded as quickly and as safely as possible.”

He said he had watched body-cam video footage and was “content” with the officers’ professionalism and how they had explained to residents what was going on. “The reporting member of the public was right to call us and we would encourage others who see similar weapons to do the same,” he said. He added Kai had been de-arrested as soon as officers had established that the only weapon in the house was the BB gun.

The Met has referred the incident to the Independent Office for Police Complaints and Ms Agyepong is also pursuing a complaint against the police.

Iain Gould, the family’s solicitor, said in a blog post that the force had “major questions” to answer.