Feb 22, 2007 12:35 pm US/Eastern
Pepper Pellet Guns Pulled Permanently In Boston
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
The pellet guns blamed for the death of a college student during Red Sox celebrations in 2004, will never be used by Boston Police again. Commissioner Ed Davis said he would like to see the guns melted down into scrap metal.
The 13 pellet guns were purchased before the 2004 Democratic National Convention with $36,000 in homeland security funds. The weapons are designed to control crowds without the use of lethal force, but Davis said they proved more powerful than originally thought.
Emerson College Student Victoria Snelgrove was killed when she was hit in the eye with one of the pepper pellets. Snelgrove was one of thousands of Red Sox fans who gathered in Kenmore Square during a rowdy celebration of the Red Sox playoff win over the Yankees. Police fired the pellet guns in an attempt to control the increasingly out of control crowd. It was the first, and only time, the guns were used by Boston Police.
The guns have been shelved ever since the incident. Davis said the weapons will now be melted down into scrap metal. Pepper spray foggers will be used for crowd control in the future.
The decision came after, "conversations locally with the head of our Special Operations unit, and also talking to people who are involved in crowd control," Davis told WBZ Radio.
Snelgrove's parents received a $5 million settlement from the city of Boston, and an undisclosed amount of money from the gun manufacturer.
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