Amazon Pulls iPhone Cases Shaped Like Guns Following Petition by Stephen Lawrence’s Best Friend

Online retailer Amazon has pulled a range of gun-shaped iPhone cases following pleas from the best friend of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence.

The Peneric ‘Gun Pistol Shape’ case is designed to look like a semi-automatic handgun when the phone is stored in a pocket.

Dwayne Brooks OBE, who witnessed the murder of his friend Stephen Lawrence and sits on the Metropolitan Police force’s firearms and taser panel, warned that if mistaken for a real gun, the ill-advised smartphone cases could lead to Londoners being shot by police.

Stephen Lawrence was 18 when he was stabbed to death in a racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus in Eltham, South London.

Following the murder, Brooks went into politics with an emphasis on making communities safer.

A former Liberal Democrat councillor, Brooks was awarded the OBE in the 2015 Birthday Honours List for his public and political service.

He launched the Change.org online petition in an attempt to get the gun-shaped iPhone cases banned in the UK and also posted a picture of himself holding one of the cases on Instagram alongside the words: “Let us not wait for someone who thinks this case is cool, to be shot dead because of a misbelief.”

A statement on the petition page reads: “This particular phone case has the potential to cause fear and panic as people may believe that the owner has a gun. I am concerned about the potential danger this could bring to people through a misunderstanding during contact with the police.”

The petition currently has more than 270 supporters.

Speaking to the Evening Standard, Brooks said:

“With these iPhone cases, when they are in a back pocket and you’re walking through a supermarket or town centre someone can just ring up and say a couple of youths have got guns.

"Then it all spills into [misunderstanding] and someone gets shot - it’s very easy for that to happen.”

He added: "We don’t want them to be popular in London - or any other major cities.”

Amazon stated that the iPhone case, which was being sold by a third party, had ‘not met its criteria for listing on the website’.

(Image credit: Instagram)