Boy Wants His Braces Off Now --Pulls Gun to Make His Point

Two shots were fired in a dentist’s office when a 13-year-old boy tried to force the doctor at gunpoint to remove his braces, police said.

The youth entered a dentist’s office in Grosse Pointe Woods last Friday armed with a .45-caliber automatic pistol and asked to see a dentist to have his braces removed, police said today.

The dentist refused because the boy did not have proof of parental permission, so the boy cocked the pistol and aimed it at the doctor. He was immediately taken to a dental chair.

A nurse called police, who had her page the dentist to have him leave the room on a pretext. Officers then entered the room, where they found the suspect leaning over, spitting into a sink, holding a handgun.

Jack Patterson, Grosse Pointe Woods director of Public Safety, spoke to the boy and when the youth turned to look, the officers rushed him.

During the ensuing scuffle the boy fired one shot which hit the floor, then grabbed an officer’s pistol causing another shot to be fired into the floor, police said.

Patterson said the boy spent a few hours at a psychiatric center and was released to his parents.

Police said the suspect had selected the dentist at random.