Apparently, he threw a gun on the ground behind the wall. That's what it looks from the other angle (from another video), when reinforcements arrived at the scene.
Seems to be in question. Didn’t appear to have one in his hand during the shooting. Hands appeared to be empty...
Yes. If you pause the vid in Tweet you can see it behind his back at about 3 seconds in. He throws it behind the fence and then raises his hands all in the same movement with his body and fence obscuring the view of the gun as he tosses it away. All that and cop firing happens in the space of 2 seconds at the most.
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I'm sorry, but for me this is not a tough one. He was ordered to put his hands up. He put his hands up. If the officer is so rattled he/she still murders that child even as he is doing what he is told then he/she sure as hell should not be an officer and sure as hell belongs in jail for manslaughter.
My issue here isnt that it was 2am...more that he’s out with someone firing random gunshots off into the night.
If that’s supposed to be aimed at me, then that’s not even close to what I’m asking or saying, so I’ll assume it’s not.
Case closed. No surprise here.
Another instance of sheer negligence at a minimum.
Fair enough. That is some strange behaviour from the other guy.
Don't disagree with this at all. It is definitely relevant as to why he and the LEO were there, and probably also contributed to the state of mind of the officer.
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Yes but it only took me one viewing of the video to determine the kid's hands were empty and he was holding them up as ordered. You can't tell someone to drop it, put your hands up and then shoot almost simultaneously. Cops, seemingly, are always amped up. This is part of the problem.
Not at all. Never said the officer was in the right or wasn’t at fault. I don’t believe it was malicious, but obviously I’m on the other side and know mistakes can be made in split seconds. Maybe he thought he saw something. It’s never easy to dissect something a million times that you get to see once in a split second. Either way, someone was shot and killed and mistake or not, taking someone’s life can’t be downplayed.
@MrMarcello has this writ large in his post earlier. That is a tough video to watch.
Yep, I think we are exactly on the same page.
viewing the video and watching it on a screen at home while you’re sat down, isn’t the same as someone making a split second decision in a low light situation after a foot pursuit of someone with a firearm.
If you've been in a live weapons situation, at night, then you'll know that could and should doesn't always apply. I think the cop will walk because the kid had a gun and there's enough to make the case that he was still a threat given how previous cases have been decided. This is part of the bargain that the US has made by allowing citizens to carry guns and asking cops to police that situation.
But that's just it. The compact we make with LE is that they get police powers, they get to carry a weapon, they get to use that weapon, but what we get is the promise that they will use those powers and extra rights in the most judicious and cautious manner possible. They don't get to guess or assume that they are in danger to claim self defense. That is their part of the compact. Any shoot where the officer, or another officer or civilian is not in ACTUAL immanent danger is a bad shoot in my opinion.
No not aimed at you.
I agree, there’s absolutely a trade off and you’re giving someone a lot of responsibility and power. The downside is that it goes to someone who’s still human and can make errors or be corrupt. You don’t get a badge and gun and become immune to making a mistake. You try and remain vigilant, avoid complacency, train as much as you can...but a split second life or death decision still gets made by a person, not the equipment they’ve been given.
I don't disagree with any of this to an extent. Setting aside the corrupt and evil element of the profession, I get that at the end of the day you just want to go home. I get that in a moment a bad decision can be made. The problem is that the bad decisions too often means someone else no longer gets to make any more decisions. I don't know what the answer is. Actually I do, ban and confiscate all guns and burn the second amendment, but realistically it really just comes down to LE making the right decision every time. That is impossible, but it should be the goal, and when that goal is not met there should be accountability.
There also needs to be an understanding that sometime something may just be a horrible, tragic mistake. That doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be consequences or someone held accountable, but the narrative shouldn’t be the same that every time something happens it’s a racist cop, backed by all of his evil friends. I don’t want to see anyone needlessly shot or gunned down or killed either, but I’m just an officer so my opinion is considered void, because apparently if you wear the uniform, you all think the same.
But the kid has complicated things by being out late at night, with a gun and running from cops. The law will side with the officer as will most people. I bet he's sick that he shot a kid and it will stay with him forever. If it went the other way, what would we be saying about a cop shot by a kid because he wasn't fast enough with his decision?
These horrible, tragic mistakes keep increasing at unacceptable rates & have for decades. We’re a bit past classifying every incident a potential tragedy. Actions have consequences
I'm sorry, but you don't get to "what if" this. This was caught on video. The kid had his hands up, and empty, in compliance with the order he was given. At that moment it does not matter if he was Rambo running around with a minigun. At that moment he is an unarmed civilian complying with an officer. That is all that matters in this situation.
You've got to give the kid credit, he did a remarkable job of placing that pistol right up against the fence from six feet away.
Yeah they say the same about football around here. I do all my shooting in the daytime so I'm not overly familiar with the use of a weapon light, was the strobe function a good choice there or is that something that could have contributed to the outcome?
I'd always look to protect myself. I think that was lacking here and contributed to the outcome. As has been mentioned, too aggressive, perhaps. But I get it, you've been running hard and don't always make the right choices in those moments.
I hate using the strobe and I personally would never use it in a shooting situation. Any advantage I may gain from disorienting the suspect would be lost as I’m trying to make out what was happening myself. Especially going into a situation where you know someone is armed, keep everything down range as well lit as possible so you can see absolutely everything you need to seems like the best course of action.
Yep. Kid was probably good at cornhole.
I am not Beau and I did not watch the clip before I posted that.This appeared to be a flashlight as well.
Read the article at the top of the comments. I’d bet you would find it interesting.
Would imagine the strobe is good for very offensive actions.
wait a second.... it kinda lines up. I am going to watch his/(your??) old videos to see if there’s any hidden skeleton porn in the background
Would imagine the strobe is good for very offensive actions.
