[chris]

Police in Brownsville, Texas, fatally shot a 15-year-old eighth grader after he pointed a realistic-looking pellet gun at officers inside Cummings Middle School and ignored repeated orders to drop it, authorities said. A recording of the 911 call that brought officers to the campus captured the final moments of the January 2012 confrontation.

The roughly six-minute recording, released by the city, opens with a school administrator reporting an armed student and warning staff to lock classroom doors. Officers can be heard shouting "Put the gun down!" as they moved through the hallways. A voice on the recording says the boy was willing to die. About 20 minutes passed between the initial call and the shots, police said.

The student, Jaime Gonzalez, had walked into a classroom and punched another boy in the nose shortly before the standoff, according to police. Investigators said Gonzalez then produced the pellet gun, a weapon that closely resembled a semiautomatic handgun. Two officers fired three shots, striking him at least twice, police said. He was pronounced dead at a hospital, and no one else was hurt.

Brownsville Police Chief Orlando Rodriguez defended the officers, saying Gonzalez had "plenty of opportunities to lower the gun" and did not comply. Rodriguez said investigators believed the boy may have been trying to draw attention to himself. The department reported receiving death threats in the days after the shooting.

Gonzalez's parents questioned the use of deadly force against their son and retained a lawyer. The Texas attorney general's office later ruled that school surveillance video of the shooting was private and not subject to public release.

In August 2012, a Cameron County grand jury declined to indict the officers, returning a "no bill." District Attorney Armando Villalobos said the panel found insufficient probable cause that a crime had been committed. No criminal charges were filed.