On Feb. 10, 2015, the plaintiffs, who were teenage schoolmates, one of who was 15, were with other schoolmates rapping in an alley near 10th Street and Florence Avenue, in Los Angeles, a few blocks from their high school. A friend posed with a realistic-looking Airsoft toy gun replica with an orange-colored tip at the end of the barrel while he was rapping and dancing in the circle. As the teens turned off the music and headed back to school, they heard multiple gunshots, which one teen mistook as gunfire from nearby gangs. However, the shots were made by Los Angeles Police Department Officer Miguel Gutierrez after seeing the prop gun with the group. One bullet struck the 15-year-old schoolmate in the upper back. He was then handcuffed, as was another schoolmate, and they both remained in cuffs and in custody for five hours. The injured schoolmate remained handcuffed while being transported by ambulance to a hospital, and he remained in handcuffs while he was in the emergency room. The two schoolmates who were taken into police custody, acting through their respective guardians ad litem, sued Gutierrez; another police officer, Everardo Amaral; the officers’ supervisors, Commander Andrew Smith and Chief of Police Charles Beck; and the officers’ employer, the city of Los Angeles. The plaintiffs alleged that Gutierrez violated their Fourth Amendment rights against unlawful arrest and excessive force by shooting at them and holding them in handcuffs for five hours. They also alleged that the shooting violated their 14th Amendment due process rights. Beck and the city were ultimately dismissed from the suit. Gutierrez moved for summary judgment, claiming qualified immunity, but a Los Angeles federal judge denied Gutierrez’s claim. Gutierrez appealed the judgment, but the appellate panel affirmed the lower court’s ruling, sending the case back to the lower court for a possible trial. The plaintiffs claimed that they were just standing in a circle, rapping, while one of them was holding the prop gun, which had an orange tip, when Gutierrez fired at least three gunshots into the group of teens without warning. The officers claimed that they were driving by when one of them looked over and saw someone pointing what he thought was a gun at somebody else in the subject alley. While speaking with investigators, one of the officers claimed that he gave an order to drop the gun, but that the person holding it turned and pointed it toward him. Thus, the officers claimed that their actions were justified. Defense counsel noted that the Los Angeles Police Commission ruled, in January 2016, that Gutierrez was justified in opening fire. However, the plaintiffs disputed the officers’ version of events., The injured 15 year old was transported by ambulance to a hospital’s emergency room, where he remained in handcuffs. He sustained a gunshot wound to his back. The bullet fragments were only recently removed. However, he claimed he might require additional medical treatment, primarily for the pain and discomfort that he occasionally experiences in his back. The injured teen and the other schoolmate who was placed in handcuffs and taken into police custody both claimed that they suffer from emotional distress as a result of the incident.