Some Burger Kings Pull `Kip Killigan' Toy Action Figure

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. - Local Burger King restaurants have stopped selling a toy action figure whose body is part gun, because the toy's name - Kip Killigan - could provoke reminders of a boy charged with killing his parents and two high-school classmates.

The name of the toy, part of the promotion for the movie "Small Soldiers," sounds similar to Kip Kinkel, 15.

Kinkel is accused of killing two students and wounding two dozen others at Thurston High School in a shooting spree May 21.

He also allegedly killed his parents the previous day.

Burger King officials weren't available for comment, and most store managers would not discuss the matter on the record.

But one said a memo was sent out to 11 Springfield-area stores instructing them to refrain from including the Killigan character in the new line of Kids' Club Meal toys.

At Toys R Us, there are no plans to pull the toys, but managers are tracking public feedback.

They said only one person has complained about the toy.

"We only had one item, a little key chain (with the Killigan character), and we've put it in my office," said Sue Ray, store manager at a Target store.

"We didn't have any guests ask anything about it, but we thought, just out of respect, we would pull it."

The PG-13 rating for "Small Soldiers," instead of a PG rating, spurred Burger King to switch commercials to prime time and drop the "Kids Club" logo from tie-in packaging.

Toys from the movie are now only an option with kids' meals, instead of a regular offering.