North Carolina cops pull guns on three black boys aged 9, 11 and 15 when they were playing tag

A nine-year-old black boy has said he is now ‘terrified’ of cops after North Carolina officers pulled their guns on him and his two friends when they were playing tag outside their apartment complex. 

Zakarryya Cornelius, 9, was playing a game with Jaylin Harris, 15, and an unidentified friend, 11, at the Rochelle Manor Apartments complex in Durham when the three black boys were allegedly confronted by five cops pointing their firearms at them and yelling at them to ‘get on the ground’. 

The officers handcuffed Jaylin before Zakarryya’s distraught mom Makeba Hoffler ran over to stop the incident.  

The incident comes as tensions continue to build between law enforcement and black communities across America following a series of incidents where cops have ‘murdered’ or seriously injured black men and women.  

The terrifying ordeal unfolded when Jaylin, Zakarryya and their friend were playing tag outside the complex where they live last Friday.

The boys told WRAL.com they went round a corner and were confronted by the group of officers pointing their guns at them. 

‘As soon as we come around the corner, we walk into five cops pointing guns at us saying, “Freeze!” and “Get on the ground!”‘ Jaylin said. 

‘So, we were just thinking, like, what did we do? We didn’t even do anything wrong.’ 

Jaylin said the cops patted him down and put him in handcuffs, while continuing to point their guns at the three boys. 

He said he pleaded with the officers to tell him what was going on. 

‘I asked them, “Why am I getting arrested? What’s going on?”‘ he told the outlet. 

‘They didn’t say anything. They didn’t tell me anything. They didn’t say, “Sorry for the inconvenience.” They just kept going about their day.’

He added: ‘I didn’t make any wrong movements at that time or anything like that – just outside playing tag and walked into guns pointed at me.’ 

At this point, Zakarryya’s mom saw what was happening and ran over, she told WRAL.com.

She said she was carrying a three-year-old in her arms at the time.  

‘Even as I proceeded to run toward the officer screaming, “they are kids,” their guns were still drawn,’ Hoffler said. 

‘”I’m going to die tonight,”‘ she said she thought.

‘That’s what I was thinking because, like I said, I was not going to bury my son, and I was not going to bury none of these kids.’ 

She voiced concerns that the outcome could have been even worse if the terrified children had acted differently. 

‘What if these kids would have kept running because they were so scared?’ the concerned mom told the outlet. 

‘The officers would’ve shot. Our babies would’ve been at Duke Hospital.’ 

None of the children were arrested or charged with a crime. 

Shocking smartphone footage captures the aftermath of the incident, with 15-year-old Jaylin cuffed and surrounded by officers.  

The young boys said the ordeal has left them terrified of cops.  

‘I was just terrified,’ nine-year-old Zakarryya told WRAL.com.  

‘Every time I see them, I feel like I got to get on the ground.’ 

Jaylin told how he feared for his life and is now seeking therapy following the incident. 

‘I’m like, “I hope I don’t die today,”‘ he said of the moments guns were pointed at him. 

‘Every time I go outside or something, I got to turn around or look over my shoulder. 

‘Is there police over there, or am I going to have to do the same thing over again?’  

Hoffler said the incident was damaging to relations between cops and the community. 

‘I told my kids not to hate cops. Now, how can I explain to them not to hate the same people that put a gun to them?’ she said.      

Durham Police claimed Jaylin matched the description of a suspect seen with a gun and selling drugs at the apartments earlier that day. 

Police Chief C.J. Davis said in a statement Thursday: ‘Durham officers responded to this location several times earlier in the day for weapons related calls.’  

‘The Durham Police Department remains fully committed to working with the residents of Rochelle Manor Apartments, as well as our entire community, in maintaining safety.’

She said: ‘We are equally sensitive of the need to promote trust and positive interactions between our officers and children. 

‘We remain steadfast in our desire to continue to have these important conversations so that we can ensure all members of our community receive the service they expect and deserve.’   

The boys’ families slammed the force saying a meeting with the department Wednesday to resolve the situation ended in disappointment when officials would not apologize or confirm a similar traumatic incident would happen to the little boys again. 

‘It was a waste of time because the same way they had the guns on the kids’ heads and didn’t care, that’s the same way they was looking at that table and didn’t care,’ Hoffler said. 

She added: ‘These are good kids. They’re babies.

‘There’s no justification. There’s nothing that they can say or do to make this all right.’ 

DailyMail.com has reached out to Davis’ office for comment over the incident and asking if the cops were wearing bodycameras at the time.  

Tensions are building nationwide between law enforcement and black communities after multiple black men and women have died in police custody in recent months. 

Anti-racism protests ramped up three months ago after a white cop ‘murdered’ unarmed black man George Floyd on Memorial Day by kneeling on his neck for almost nine minutes.  

Just weeks after Floyd’s death, Rayshard Brooks was shot dead outside a Wendy’s drive-thru in Atlanta while he was running away from cops.  

On Sunday, unarmed black man Jacob Blake as shot in the back eight times and left paralyzed by Wisconsin police while his three young sons watched on.