Looking for a gift for that hard-to-buy-for teenager? The Westmont police chief has a suggestion of what not to buy.

On Nov. 19, in the midst of police response to a fatal stabbing and the subsequent four-car crash resulting from a high-speed police chase of the suspect, Westmont police had to divert already-stretched resources to respond to another call of several people in a parking lot, one possibly with a gun.

Sgt. Jim Gunther said he approached the individuals in the parking lot and ordered them to drop to the ground when they took off. During a search of the area, two of the individuals were found and arrested.

One of them, a15-year-old, had a Beretta Elite II air pistol and several individual packets of marijuana.

Gunther said the weapon, which has Co2 canisters that propel BBs, has the same shape, size, weight and look of a real Beretta used by police officers.

“We’re trained to assume anything that looks like a real gun is a real gun,” Gunther said. “If he had pulled it on me I would have treated it like a real gun.”

Police Chief Jim Ramey said the incident illustrates “incredibly bad judgment young people demonstrate by having such an item on their person and then running from the police with the item visible,” as well as “incredibly poor judgment by parents who allow juveniles to purchase these items.”

“It also demonstrates the very difficult split-second decisions law enforcement officials have to make, in this case with the potential for very bad consequences,” Ramey said.

Such look-a-like BB guns and air pistols have become increasingly problematic for law enforcement officials.

“They’re readily available and they push the envelope for realism,” Gunther said.

A K-Mart store in Minneapolis recently agreed to stop selling the guns at the request of police after they were used in dozens of violent crimes.

Though most of the pellet and BB guns have an orange tip differentiating them from real guns, the tips are often painted black to look like the real thing, such as a case Ramey was involved in while working with the FBI in Seminole County, Fla.

In January 2006, a 15-year-old was fatally shot by law enforcement after pointing what deputies thought was a real gun at a SWAT team member during a standoff at middle school.

The eighth-grader appeared to be holding a 9mm handgun, but it was actually a Daisy Air Strike pellet gun spraypainted black to look like the real thing, according to the Orlando Sentinel newspaper.

Red Ryder BB guns have been a popular Christmas present since becoming a household name in “A Christmas Story,” but if the Nov. 19 incident teaches anything, police hope it will be for parents to steer clear of the lookalike variety.

“It’s the holiday season,” Gunther said. “I suggest they think twice about purchasing a weapon that is realistic and could be construed as a real gun.”

Police said the 15-year-old was charged with disorderly conduct and posession of marijuana.
Another 15-year-old was charged with interfering with police, an ordinance violation.

Because both are juveniles, there names were not released. The juveniles’ cases were turned over to the DuPage County juvenile court system.