Columbus, OH – A police officer taught two young men a very important lesson after he disarmed them on Saturday.

Columbus Police Officer Peter Casuccio was doing a ridealong with a member of a community group on Oct. 13 when he received a call for two boys with a gun nearby, WSYX reported.

When Officer Casuccio spotted the 11- and 13-year-old boys matching the description of the suspects, he stopped them.

That’s when the 11 year old reached for his waistband where he had a black handgun.

“So I pull up on ‘em, and I’m not gonna lie to you, doing cop stuff, I drew down on them,” Officer Casuccio told the younger boy’s mother, a bodycam video of the incident showed.

“He freaks out and he starts to pull the gun out of his waistband,” the officer told her.

“He could’ve shot you for that, you know that?” she asked her son in the video.

“He dropped it real fast. But I didn’t know it was a BB gun until it hit the sidewalk,” Officer Casuccio told her, driving home his point.

The bodycam video showed the officer holding the two young men at gunpoint on the ground on the sidewalk.

Once the boys were back on their feet, Officer Casuccio gave them a firm lecture about how close a call they had just had.

“This is getting kids killed all over the country,” he told them on the video.

The boys apologized, but the officer didn’t soften his approach.

“That thing looks real bro. You should be sorry, and you should be scared,” Officer Casuccio told the 11 year old.

“I didn’t want him to shoot,” the 11 year old said.

“I know you didn’t want me to shoot,” the officer replied. “Do you think I want to shoot an 11 year old? Do you think I want to shoot a 13 year old?”

Officer Casuccio took the boy home and told his mom what had happened.

The video showed that before he left, he tried to impress upon the child how close he’d come to being shot once again.

“Your life hasn’t even gotten started yet and it could have ended,” the officer told the 11 year old. “I could’ve killed you. I want you to think about that tonight when you go to bed. You could be gone. Everything you want to do in this life could’ve been over.”

You can see the interaction in the viral video below: