COLUMBUS, Ohio -- An Ohio senator wants parents to destroy toy guns that closely resemble real weapons after a 13-year-old boy carrying a BB gun was shot and killed here last week.

Sen. Cecil Thomas, a Cincinnati Democrat and former police officer, said Tuesday the death of Tyre King is the latest showing the danger imitation firearms pose and urged parents to destroy such weapons.



"Once again an Ohio child has been shot and killed by a police officer who says they believed the child posed a legitimate threat," Thomas said in a news release. "Children do not understand the danger these imitation weapons pose."

King was shot by a Columbus police officer responding to a report of an armed robbery. The officer said King brandished a handgun before he fired, and the gun turned out to be a BB gun that closely resembles a gun officers carry.

King's death echoed that of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old shot and killed by Cleveland police in 2014. Police were responding to a call about a guy with a gun. Rice was later found to have been carrying an airsoft pellet gun with the orange tip removed.



"I am not commenting on whether the shooting was justified, as I do not have all of the facts," Thomas said of the King shooting. "However, I do know we have lost too many children in Ohio and in the nation to this type of senseless, avoidable tragedy."