A member of the public had spotted the suspicious item in the waistband of the 16-year-old's trousers while he was walking through Birmingham with a friend and called 999.
CCTV footage from Erdington High Street shows two policeman suddenly accosting the pair forcing the teen to throw the toy gun to the ground - without thinking through the consequences of retrieving a weapon.
The officers immediately whip out their own guns, training them on the two boys who swiftly hold their hands up.
Fortunately for everyone, the 'weapon' was simply a BB gun, but West Midlands Police have revealed that carrying any replica weapons can result in the risk of the bearer being shot - and this boy in question was dicing with death as the policeman facing him was primed to shoot.
Constable Rob Pedley of West Midlands Police's firearms department said: 'A member of the public in a high street had seen two young men. One appeared to have a gun in his waistband.
'Armed officers were arriving at the scene within a matter of minutes. They identified themselves as armed officers and at this I think he panicked really but he produced from inside his coat what turned out to be a toy gun.
'The officers saw the gun come out and the officer describes how he withdrew his gun and began to squeeze the trigger, saw the hammer coming back and knew that if he squeezed just another 2-3mm he would be shooting this person in the chest.
'This person later turned out to be a 16-year-old lad with a toy gun.', Daily Mail reported.
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