LOWELL, Mass. — City officials in Lowell are expected to make a decision regarding a police officer who took confiscated BB guns home, one of which was later used to shoot a child in the mouth.
Officials say Officer Jeff Halloran took home seven BB guns, but threw six of them away.
“Instead of disposing of them right away, he brought them home and one of them got into the hands of his son or daughter and unfortunately a serious incident occurred,” Lowell City Manager Kevin Murphy said.
As for the one he kept for himself, a kid ended up playing with the gun and shot the child of a city councilor in the mouth.
Halloran has continued to work at the police department during the investigation into the incident, which occurred in February.
“Whenever you have an investigation, you want to make sure it's thorough and make sure everyone has had an opportunity to participate,” Murphy said.
Murphy told FOX25 that Halloran was allowed to continue working because even though it was a violation of police regulations it was not an incident that threatened public safety.
“Where do you draw that line? That's something that's troubled me. In this case, it was a BB gun, what if it was drugs? You do have to draw a line,” he said.
Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
