Teen boy with sawed-off gun shot dead by Oakland police

OAKLAND _ A 16-year-old boy was fatally shot around noon Wednesday by police officers who said he pointed a rifle at them, authorities said.

The shooting occurred in the area of 79th Avenue and Rudsdale Street. Three gang unit officers were in a car for preventive patrol, according to Oakland Police Department information officer Roland Holmgren.

The officers saw the youth walking on sidewalk and it appeared he was trying to conceal something in his sweatpants, Holmgren said. They got closer and saw a gun. Two officers out of car and the third still in the car when youth pulled out a sawed-off rifle and pointed it at them. All three officers fired.

It is not known yet how many times youth was hit.

"The officers fired in defense of their lives," Holmgren said. "They thought he was going to shoot them. It's a traumatic experience."

Neither the boy's nor the officers' names were released by police.

The case is being investigated by Oakland police homicide and internal affairs units and the Alameda County District Attorney office.

The officers were being interviewed by investigators Wednesday evening.

It's is the second fatal police shooting in Oakland since Friday, when a 70-year-old man was shot after pointing a replica pistol at officers.

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