NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Fla., Sept. 1 A police officer in North Miami Beach fatally shot a man who appeared to be carrying a rifle that was actually a toy gun, officials said.Police said officers responded Wednesday afternoon to reports of calls about a man walking around carrying a rifle, WFOR-TV, Miami, reported.
When officers arrived, police said, a confrontation prompted one officer to fire at the man.The victim was flown by helicopter to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead, The Miami Herald reported.
An investigation found he was actually carrying a toy rifle.Family members identified the victim as Ernest Vassell, 56."They murdered him in cold blood for a toy gun!" Vassell's older sister, Claire Harding, told the station. "That's no reason for you to kill somebody."
She and other sisters said they had never seen him with a toy gun and thought he thought he found it. They told WFOR he was mentally disabled because of a childhood brain injury and was never violent.The officer has been placed on administrative leave while police and the state attorney's office investigate, the station reported.
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