Selfie with toy gun: Schoolboy shot by police in Faisalabad dies

Kashif Hussain Dawn.com Published June 23, 2015

FAISALABAD: A schoolboy who was shot at and injured by police in Faisalabad Monday for taking selfies with a toy pistol died of excessive bleeding.

On Monday, police had opened fire and injured two schoolboys who were taking pictures with a toy pistol on Faisalabad's Susan road.

Take a look: Two schoolboys injured by police

The boys, identified as Farhan, 15, and Fahad,14, were reportedly taking pictures to post them on Facebook with a toy pistol when Faryad Husain, the station house officer (SHO) of Peoples Colony, opened fire on them without any warning.

Both the boys were injured and taken to the district headquarters (DHQ) hospital by police who reportedly escaped after realising that they had made a mistake and that the boys were not armed robbers.

Farhan, whose condition was critical, died of excessive bleeding late on Monday night.

His body was shifted to a mortuary for a post-mortem examination. Following completion of the post-mortem, the body was handed over to family members.

A murder case was registered against SHO Faryad Husain and four other policemen.

Meanwhile, City Police Officer Afzal Kausar constituted a committee — comprising SSP Investigation Faisalabad, SP Madina Town and SP Lyalpur Town — to probe into the killing and submit a report within 24 hours.

The injured Fahad told reporters that Farhan and he were taking pictures when the SHO reached there along with his subordinates and opened fire on them immediately after leaving his vehicle.

Police said the SHO received a call that some armed robbers were looting people on the Susan Road. When police reached the spot, the armed men opened fire on police which was retaliated. Two robbers, including Farhan Iftikhar of Peoples Colony, sustained injuries while their accomplice managed to escape, police alleged.

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Sami Qureshi

Jun 23, 2015 04:00pm

There is no doubt that Pakistan has turned into a POLICE STATE.

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Fahad

Jun 23, 2015 04:00pm

Doesn't seem like an intended murder but still the policeman destroyed a family due to his lack of training to handle such situations and to identify robbers/terrorists. Having said that, can we have a ban on the sale and import toy pistols and toy guns at least for the current years? I don't find any reason why a kid should be playing with one. Really tragic incident. All the condolences with the families of the kids.

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Sharique

Jun 23, 2015 04:01pm

interesting 2 different versions of the story. apparently with current law and order situation in country where terrorist and dacoits roam freely, its a very bad idea to take selfies with a toy gun on road and i would not consider police guilty for shooting them. But actual conculsion can be reached only after inquiry.

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Harmony-1

Jun 23, 2015 04:03pm

Couldn't the trigger happy idiots see they were just boys?

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anon mouse

Jun 23, 2015 04:05pm

Errr ... even if it were a real gun you don't just go and shoot someone like that. Police procedures worldwide call for giving fair warning, alas ours hasn't apparently seen any training whatsoever.

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mian m amin.

Jun 23, 2015 04:11pm

Who allowed toy guns import needs to be located . Such tragedies have occurred in USA and UK .The SHO,s arrest may or may not satisfy the aggrieved , there is most urgent need to take out all such toys from markets to prevent more accidental killings .The action of the police officer needs to be investigated professionally and not emotionally .

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Ahmed

Jun 23, 2015 04:18pm

This is sad. But in current situation you can not blame the police entirely. A warning shot could have avoided the tragedy. But taking pictures with a (toy) gun in public was really a bad idea. Toy guns looking to be real became such a big problem 20 years ago that by law toy makers have to put a big red muzzle on the toy so that police can know its a toy. Why did they run away - if it was true mistake - why did they escape. The US is even worse they have killed three unarmed people in the last two months for not listening. Due to terrorism police is scared and they don't give anyone a second chance. Shoot first ask later.

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Sharique

Jun 23, 2015 04:21pm

@anon mouse There are many stories here in Germany and EU recently too where a person carrying a knife or toy gun were shot dead by police. Its fault of the boys taking selfies. In case police giving warning, real terrorist or dacoits could have used this time to fire back at police

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Khwaja

Jun 23, 2015 04:23pm

Our Power players have no sense whatsoever. This is STATE-GARDI.

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Fakhir

Jun 23, 2015 04:27pm

Sad but asked for tragedy. RIP

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Ali

Jun 23, 2015 04:28pm

Pakistan police must be equipped with on the body and in-car cameras and must turn it on before reaching the spot to initiate any sort of interaction with the people. Although the situation in pakistan is sensitive due to terrorist activities and these police might not have intentionally wanted to kill the boys, yet the police should have warned them first and asked them to lay the weapon and surrender. They should not just start shooting and killing. There is a difference between police and decoits. And I dont believe it is the right thing to shoot somenone even if he was a robber, unless the robber threatened or opened fire. Police can always chase him and apprehend him. Robbery and murder and two different things.

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Talking Point

Jun 23, 2015 04:33pm

Real guns cannot make out toy guns , yet talking about pigeons. Paranoia at its worst. Feel sorry for the extinguished light of hope for his family.

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Noor

Jun 23, 2015 04:38pm

who is responsible for this innocent death, i feel it is inept gov who did not pay any head to training of police force and has only one focus to tame their political opponents with use of police Very sad incident

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Human First

Jun 23, 2015 04:40pm

Many such incidents have been taking place mainly because of cowardliness of some government officials. They do carry weapons but get so scared when they see the same in someone,s else hand and they just fire in the panic.

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Rabz

Jun 23, 2015 04:42pm

How sad

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Kashmiri

Jun 23, 2015 04:50pm

Extremely sad news but I do NOT blame the police.

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chodhary

Jun 23, 2015 05:05pm

First of a kind... selfie-related deaths in Pakistan. When will this selfie-madness stop?

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Zuhaib

Jun 23, 2015 05:05pm

weapon & selfi..... deadly combo..!!

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Murad

Jun 23, 2015 05:18pm

Don't they give training to the police there? He should not have shot them immediately just like that even if it was a real gun.

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mmh

Jun 23, 2015 05:25pm

In Kashmir army had to apologize after shooting 15 year old driving a truck and didn't stop after warning . Can we expect the same from police and government?

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mmh

Jun 23, 2015 05:27pm

@Kashmiri if it was in Kashmir you would have blamed police and army

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Jun 23, 2015 05:28pm

@Ali > Pakistan police must be equipped with on the body and in-car cameras and must turn it on before reaching the spot to initiate any sort of interaction with the people. Are you talking about Pakistan that is having trouble to supply electricity for more than a few hours or did you just mistype US?

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Iqbal

Jun 23, 2015 05:45pm

Very tragic and sad story. For future the solution is having good honorable trained police officers who do a great job and are not there to take bribes.

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Asim Munir

Jun 23, 2015 05:57pm

Given the circumstances in Pakistan, people must act responsibly so that such innocent killings don't happen accidentally.

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Abdullah

Jun 23, 2015 06:11pm

I see everyone is blaming the police - and justifiably so. However; in a country where security people do not have any security due to all the terrorist/taliban attacks, everyone is on the edge. You cannot take a chance - one mistake can take away tens of lives. We need to ask ourselves why our teen aged kids would be tempting to post picture with guns on facebook. When gun becomes part of your lives, such accidents would happen. Look at what happened couple of weeks ago in the church in USA

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Syed Ahmed, Canada

Jun 23, 2015 06:12pm

Has the Police gone mad. The Police Chief and the trigger happy Policemen mut be tried for coldblooded murder.

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FOMI

Jun 23, 2015 06:20pm

Pathetic. Where we are heading towards. Police you are trained for this but you always act immaturely, unprofessionally.

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hamza

Jun 23, 2015 06:21pm

it is complete fault of the parents... police cannot be blamed

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M.Talha Imran

Jun 23, 2015 06:25pm

Well done public, you have a big art to criticize especially Police. Did you ever try to put your position in place of police ? We are crossing the border of terrorism, in the background what the public is functioning to curb the terrorism? Don't criticize immediately without deep scrutiny because the facts are the something else what we see through our naked eye.

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Listener

Jun 23, 2015 06:42pm

POLICE man did his job. There is no way he can judge that is a real gun or fake. Parents shouldn't buy toys guns to their kids. What if that was real gun and they kill the coup?

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ukz

Jun 23, 2015 06:51pm

Keeping in view law n order situation in Pakistan, police are at life risk. Police has power but power comes with responsibility. This is irresponsible act by police officer and should be punished.

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saturn

Jun 23, 2015 06:53pm

The irony of the situation is that people commenting here are all for banning toy guns, but are perfectly fine with arming their teachers and giving weapons training to the schoolchildren. I beg the moderators of Dawn to publish this. It is something that needs to be said.

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Nauman

Jun 23, 2015 07:03pm

Keeping in view the current situation it is not at all advisable to take a toy gun and display it publicly because no one can differentiate between real and toy pistol. The elders especially the parents should have teached the kids not to do such thing.

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khalid pervez qureshi.

Jun 23, 2015 07:11pm

Root cause of such brutalities and mistakes of police are inadiquate training comprising no quality, no enough time, no accoutability of instructers, lack of face reading, body language, police without proper training but equiped with smg is a high risk in our society.

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Nabeel

Jun 23, 2015 07:14pm

My condolences to the family, kids should not be playing with such toys in public as it could create a doubt, but on the other end rank of an SHO is experienced, there could be other ways to tackle the situation other than shoot them, i don't understand why does not our police shoot them on legs or any other part so that they cannot escape and then get them n investigate which could lead them to bigger leads

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Adnan Anwar

Jun 23, 2015 07:37pm

No it is just a case of incompetent policemen not following protocol of engagement.

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Farhan Imaan

Jun 23, 2015 07:54pm

Sad incident, All the condolences with the families of the kids, Blaming the kids playing with the Toy Guns isn't going to resolve any issue, Indeed Police needs to be trained unlike the statement which Police has given after this incident which shows how Improfessional Pubjab police is.

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PHILOSOPHER (from Japan)

Jun 23, 2015 08:00pm

Without any warning and shooting kids......surprised me...

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Nadeem

Jun 23, 2015 08:09pm

My heart is crying for the family who has lost their beloved sons. But these days where the situation is very sensitive a plastic toy gun could be the reason of any dreadful moment. I don't blame police man hundred percent..

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neutral

Jun 23, 2015 08:26pm

Well after given warning police may be thinking they are robber and run away and our public will blame police People should have knowledge that country security situation is bad so be carefull Big gangster use child for robbery Sad outcome of illiteracy

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Ahmed

Jun 23, 2015 09:20pm

Both, the boys and Police to be blamed for tragic accident.

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M Jamal

Jun 23, 2015 09:25pm

Very sad as the boy murder is due to the system based on nepotism and incompetency. We need a complete overhaul.When.

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Zeeshan

Jun 23, 2015 09:44pm

This is outrageous. Kids can't even play with toys without the incompetent police of Pakistan shooting them. I hope severe action is taken against the parties involved.

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Concerned

Jun 23, 2015 09:50pm

While this is a very sad incident and I feel sorry for the young man and his family, there needs to some understanding given to Police and the circumstances. Is this not a responsibility of adults that they not stop youngsters from getting such toys that look like real guns? Police is dealing with heightened state of crime, terrorism and paranoia in the society. I agree that police can benefit from more training but at the same time why are such toys in market that don't have orange markers showing that they are toys? My point is that this incident may not be simple enough to just put blame on one person. I hope there is through investigation and the government takes corrective actions.

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Kazim

Jun 23, 2015 10:21pm

I understand the actions of the SHO, police is hyper-active these days (as they should be) due to the risk of a terrorist attack and activities of criminals throughout the country. It is understandable why SHO didn't waste any time in drawing his weapon and using it. How was expected to know that the gun used by these teenagers wasn't real and just a toy?

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Naseer

Jun 23, 2015 10:47pm

Tragic incident, but you can't blame the police, when terriioism is on rise , maybe the Sho at that time took the right decision, In the West and Europe you won't find toy guns in market, Govt should ban toy guns

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muhammad

Jun 23, 2015 10:58pm

@Sami Qureshi if its become police state then police never been beaten by lawyers or any one else

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Ahmed Awaiz

Jun 23, 2015 11:25pm

@Sami Qureshi: many in pakistan who have not been abroad do not have an idea how brutal police states can be. All such peoplr shoulf visit Saudia USA israel Iran etc. Compared to these countries pakistan is literally police free state. Our police needs our support in its fight against hydra headed enemy of terrorism.

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ALI

Jun 23, 2015 11:58pm

@Sharique ,Law and enforcement agencies cannot open fire without warning or being challenged

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mechie

Jun 24, 2015 12:03am

Nothing political or religious here. Just a case of gross negligence. I won't say that what happened is fine, but given the situation in our country, this was inevitable. I feel sorry for the loss of the families of those boys.

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Saadahgul Khan

Jun 24, 2015 12:25am

I am intrigued by the police report that says it all: "Police said the SHO received a call that some armed robbers were looting people on the Susan Road. When police reached the spot, the armed men opened fire on police which was retaliated. Two robbers, including Farhan Iftikhar of Peoples Colony, sustained injuries while their accomplice managed to escape, police alleged."

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Anonymous

Jun 24, 2015 12:40am

@Sharique : You can find so many people carrying licensed Pistols in Pakistan, Police is not suppose to open Fire unless they confirm the situation.

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Zala

Jun 24, 2015 12:47am

Police fired at the boys because they were from poor family. In Pakistan there are two sets of rules, one for the poor and one for the elite class.

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azi

Jun 24, 2015 01:34am

police can not be blamed for the incidence ....at this stage even a toy gun some of them look really real, police reacted before any unwanted incidents. How is one to distinguish from so far if it is a toy or real until you approach and then get fired upon if was real. so it was an accident....not the police but the parents of the the two boys should be arrested for letting them play with guns openly....selfies could have been taken inside the house.

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azi

Jun 24, 2015 01:37am

@Harmony-1 ...really but it is pakistan where anybody can use a gun , even blow themselves up...if it turned out to be a real gun and few killed then the police would be held responsible ??? now it turned out to be a toy gun still we blame the police.

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azi

Jun 24, 2015 01:39am

@anon mouse ....warning ??? you kidding in Pakistan warning means get shot.

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Jun 24, 2015 02:15am

In order to subdue suspects who appear to be not complying with the Police orders, the Police should shoot on their leg or arm in order to inflict a non-life threatening injury so that they can be arrested and investigated for possible conviction. Police should never have the license to kill suspects. The policeman who killed the youth must be arrested and tried for conviction in the court. Formation of investigation committee consisting of police officers is absurd and for public deception

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Mahmood Ayub

Jun 24, 2015 03:13am

Very sad tragedy. Cant blame law enforcement since they are a bit 'on edge' given the ongoing regional security environment. I blame the parents for not imparting some common sense into them - last and final blame goes on them for carrying a toy gun which looked 'real enough'

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Mahmood Ayub

Jun 24, 2015 03:13am

@Sami Qureshi i'd rather have a police state than have a state with security problems

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L.Ahmad

Jun 24, 2015 03:35am

Senseless killing of an innocent boy. Police officer should be charged and punished for his reckless action.

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Shahid

Jun 24, 2015 04:14am

Why don't they teach the police to shoot on legs when needed.

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Akil Akhtar

Jun 24, 2015 05:09am

This has happened often in the west also. In these times of heightened fear and terrorism we need to educate our citizens also on how to behave on the streets. we cannot expect our security to wait for the terrorist to fire at them to make sure the guns are not toys. Our problem is the citizens are never told that they have some responsibilities also.

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Sarcastic

Jun 24, 2015 07:11am

A tragic incident of course but can't blame police right away. There are so many civilian and on duty deaths in last decade that such mistakes by police is not unusual. Kids inspired by toy guns too is the outcome of weapon loving society. We cannot rule out such tragedies altogether but can reduce when whole society adopt a behavior of responsibility and start analyzing the situation instead of reacting.

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Kalim Imtiaz

Jun 24, 2015 10:58am

Yes, SHO is guilty because he showed cruelty.

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Qasim

Jun 24, 2015 11:21am

@Listener indeed you are right. but Police should warn to surrender before opening the fire

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khanm

Jun 24, 2015 12:31pm

@Sami Qureshi ... it has always been for poor and common people... Police in Pakistan is a barrier,a protection for rich, powerful and corrupts....

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khanm

Jun 24, 2015 12:37pm

@Fahad... i do understand it was an accident but maligning the facts by police is utterly disgusting. i do agree under the given circumstances play with a toy pistol should be banned and discouraged.. we all are on the edge to be declared as being paranoia

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khanm

Jun 24, 2015 12:38pm

@Sharique take a police report from police.... wonder what the truth would be...

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Mamoon

Jun 24, 2015 02:02pm

I dont blame the police officer involved here. Because if u see the picture they were taking, shocked me. Why did they bother to stage such drama at busy road?? But the police man should have fired at leg or other part.

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