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Rookie NYPD officer shoots and kills 14-year-old

NEW YORK A rookie police officer shot and killed a 14-year-old boy on a street early Sunday after he refused to drop his gun and pointed it at them, authorities said.

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Scene of fatal Bronx police-involved shooting, August 4, 2013. Monica Miller/WCBS 880

Shaaliver Douse died of a single gunshot to his jaw after the confrontation in the Melrose section of the Bronx.

Two officers with the New York Police Department were on foot patrol when they heard gunfire at around 3 a.m. The officers responded to the scene and found the boy with a 9mm handgun firing shots at a fleeing man, authorities said.

The officers identified themselves as police and ordered him to drop his weapon, authorities said.

When he pointed his gun at them, one of the officers shot him, police said. The teenager was pronounced dead at the scene.

The two officers had joined the department in January.

Douse had been in trouble with the law before.

He was charged in May with attempted murder after a 15-year-old boy was shot in a Bronx neighborhood where Douse lived. That shooting took place 2 miles from where Douse was later shot to death.

Douse was also charged with assault, criminal possession of a weapon and menacing in the incident.

The charges were later dropped, according to CBS affiliate WCBS in New York. At the time, prosecutors did not give a reason but said the case was pending further investigation.

The Bronx District Attorney's Office did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press seeking comment Sunday.

Some residents told WCBS they're grateful the police were nearby when the gunfire broke out.

"They did a good job, I respect them. They're out there because I came home Friday night late and I saw them on the corner and I feel safe. Cops are doing a good job. There's too many guns out here," a neighbor told CBS News Radio.

Others said they aren't surprised by this latest violence, or the use of police force.

"The area's bad. If you walk by yourself, somebody could jump you. A female just got jumped right down the block on Third Avenue two nights ago just for walking by herself," a woman named Candace told WCBS. "Everywhere we go, the cops just pull over groups and groups of young black kids. They could've aimed for legs but they want to kill people."

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