Experts: Pellet gun can cause serious injury

BROWNSVILLE — The pellet gun Jaime Gonzalez Jr. brandished at Cummings Middle School – a Umarex tactical pistol – is an air gun that can cause serious injury, police and an expert say.
But, according to the owner’s manual, the black gun does not have a feature to indicate that it is not a deadly weapon.
The manual warns users that “police and others” may think it is a firearm if waved in public.
Gonzalez, an eighth-grader at Cummings, was fatally shot by officers Wednesday morning after he reportedly pointed the pellet gun at officers in a school hallway.
Terry Vinson, who operates a firing range near Los Fresnos, said clients often use pellet guns at the range, and about 90 percent of those guns have a colored piece on the barrel indicating that it is an airgun.
“That changes everything,” Vinson said. “That’s an indication to officers that it’s not a real gun.”
A former investigator with the Cameron County Sheriff’s Office, Vinson has trained deputies to work with firearms.
The Umarex airgun shoots lead capsules at about 380 feet per second, the manual states. It carries a warning that “This air pistol can cause serious injury or death,” particularly within 300 yards.
Brownsville Police Interim Chief Orlando Rodriguez said pellet guns pose a threat of serious injury. He spoke at a press conference held the afternoon of the shooting, where police announced that Gonzalez had been armed with a pellet gun.
Vinson said a pellet gun with lead cartridges can penetrate a piece of plywood if shot at short range.
“It could possibly shoot your eye out,” he said.