Shooting a Kid With an Airsoft Gun

Higher PARK, Doctor. — A 16-year-old boy who was shot and killed by a Maryland State Law trooper was an honor student who loved cooking with his female parent and spirited political debates at the family dinner table, the teenager'south relatives said Wednesday.

A written argument from the family doesn't address the circumstances of Peyton Ham's encounter with the trooper who shot him Tuesday afternoon outside a domicile near the State Police billet in Leonardtown. Investigators determined that Ham had an airsoft gun and a knife and pointed the replica toy gun at the trooper, who was responding to a pair of 911 calls, according to Country Police force Superintendent Woodrow Jones Iii.

Instead, the family statement focuses on their memories of Ham and his academic and personal achievements. They described him as "an incredibly smart, gifted sweet swain" with an "Alex P. Keaton" type personality, referring to the bourgeois, overachieving character played by Michael J. Fox on the 1980s-era sitcom "Family Ties."

"Our family unit is admittedly heartbroken and shattered over this sudden, unexpected loss of life of a talented young homo, filled with promise," the statement says. "Words cannot limited the gratitude our family is feeling with the overwhelming love and support being extended by our friends and family unit in our astonishing community."

A trooper responding to a pair of 911 calls fatally shot 16 year old Peyton Ham, on Tuesday, April 13, 2021, outside a home near the State Police barracks in Leonardtown, Md. — A trooper responding to a pair of 911 calls fatally shot sixteen year old Peyton Ham, on Tuesday, April 13, 2021, outside a domicile near the Land Constabulary barracks in Leonardtown, Md. Kristee Boyle / AP

Ham'due south mother, Kristee Boyle, provided The Associated Printing with a copy of the family's argument. During a cursory telephone call, she described her son every bit "an awesome young homo."

"It'southward a horrific situation," Boyle said.

A witness saw Ham in the driveway of a home "in a shooting opinion" and pointing the gun at the trooper, who fired at the teenager and wounded him, Jones said Tuesday during a news conference. Another witness told investigators Ham and so pulled out a knife and tried to get up, co-ordinate to the superintendent.

"The trooper ordered him to drop the pocketknife before he fired again," Jones told reporters.

The airsoft gun that the teenager wielded is commonly used to shoot BBs and is "a close representation of an bodily handgun," Jones said.

The trooper who shot Peyton Ham responded alone inside minutes of the Land Law receiving ii 911 calls about someone acting suspiciously, according to the superintendent.

The offset caller, a man, said he thought that the suspiciously acting "guy" had a gun, Jones said, calculation, "The dispatcher asked for his location, but the telephone call was asunder."

The second 911 caller also said he saw a "guy" acting suspiciously and idea he had a gun, according to the superintendent. That caller gave a street accost for the suspicious person but hung up without giving a proper name, co-ordinate to Jones.

Afterward the shooting, the trooper who shot the male child chosen for emergency medical personnel while other troopers and sheriff's deputies gave him first aid. Ham afterward died at a nearby hospital. Jones said police recovered the airsoft gun and a knife at the scene.

The teenager was white, as is the trooper who shot him, according to State Law spokesman Greg Shipley. In an email on Midweek, Shipley said he expects the trooper's name to exist released this week.

The trooper who shot the teen has been with the State Police for two years and seven months and has been placed on authoritative leave pending the investigation, Jones said.