The boyfriend told police that the couple purchased the gun because they feared unrest that may arise from a grand jury decision in the fatal shooting of unarmed black teen Michael Brown by a white police officer, the sources said.

Police were investigating whether the boyfriend's account of the shooting was correct, the sources told CNN.

As of this morning, Stupidest Man on the Internet Jim Hoft, who has been running story after story for the past two weeks about "black mobs" and the "Ferguson mob" had not yet blamed the death on the climate of fear engendered by scary black people.

Obviously, the scandal here is that the police are keeping track of a Patriot's political views, whatever they happen to be -- it's getting to where you can't threaten jackbooted authority figures without them targeting you for surveillance. We're going to go way out on a limb and assume he was a sovereign citizen loon, although since nothing's been specified, he may well be another of those liberal mass-murderers we keep hearing about. (Also, in all seriousness: kudos to the wounded deputy, whose name hasn't been released -- he was shot by Holley as he moved to warn firefighters to stay away from the scene, and only survived because he was wearing a bulletproof vest.)

he heard a loud boom and ran to the bedroom where his son, Michael, and his neighbor's 4-year-old grandson were playing.

He forced the locked door open and initially thought his son had gotten hurt that way.

The teevee station reports that Holzworth's home has a sign at the front door reading "'We don't dial 9-1-1' with a metal cutout of a pistol dangling below." KING-TV reports that Holzworth told a reporter that he keeps his guns locked up, and did not know how the 4-year-old neighbor got a hold of the weapon. He texted the reporter with this statement:

"Yes, all fire arms (sic) are locked up, gun safety is paramount and number one rule in our home we take it very seriously, I'm devastated and can only give glory to God for my son's life being sparred (sic).

"Guns are not toys in our home, even nurf (sic) type, even squirt guns are not used in a playful manor (sic).

"He is my only son who I love more than my own life. I've always been very careful With (sic) firearms, I never in a million years would have thought this would happen to us and it's devastating to our family. What we need is prayers and support. We love God and we know that without his intervention we could have lost a loving and caring child."

The pastor of a neighborhood church that has been distributing gun locks said, however, that the 3-year-old's grandmother had just picked up "whole bunch of locks" last Sunday to give to Holzworth, her son-in-law, which suggests his assertion that "all guns are locked up" is at best a recent, and perhaps incomplete assessment of the security situation at the Responsible Gun Owner's home. So maybe he didn't get to all of them. It can be hard to keep track. It's also not entirely clear why Holzworth would let two preschoolers play unsupervised in a house full of guns, but as he says, he definitely told the kid that guns aren't toys, so let's not be too harsh on him: it's not his fault if a 3-year-old won't listen to clear safety instructions.

The 911 caller had specified that the gun may have been fake, but it's not clear whether that detail was relayed to the police by dispatchers. You'd think they'd mention that.

When the two officers arrived, the boy did not point the weapon at them or otherwise threaten them, Deputy Chief Ed Tomba of the Cleveland Division of Police told reporters early Sunday.

But he did reach for the weapon, Tomba said.

"The officers ordered him to stop and to show his hands and he went into his waistband and pulled out the weapon," he said.

We're not sure which of several factors to be more disgusted by: the trigger-happy cops, the (possible) failure to pass on the information that the gun was fake, the fact that hyper-realistic replicas of guns are sold at all, or the idiot gun culture that makes kids think waving around a toy gun is cool. How about just the fact that a 12-year-old with a toy is dead for no good reason? That's plenty.