The shot in the back of the head is troubling. Was he surrounded? In other words, one or 2 cops in front and another in the back? Cop shoots at the chest and the other behind him fires at his head?
If he was shot in the chest first, wouldn't he have gone down immediately? Why a second shot to the head?
Just trying to piece together the crime scene and trying to understand how it all went down.
If he was surrounded, if he had a cop in front of him and a cop behind him. If the police officers saw a weapon, thought it was a gun and only one fired..... what happens if the one officer missed? You possibly have a dead officer.
I am seeing that these officers were trained. Yes they were trained. They were trained to recognize that a gun was involved. They were trained that at the point that the gun is pointed at them that they are in a deadly situation. They are trained that if they fail to respond, their lives are in peril, and so are the lives of others.
Many, many times from the time they spot a gun until shots are fired at them it is only a fraction of a second. In that fraction of a second they must check their field of fire to make sure that no innocents are in the field of fire. They must try to make sure their aim is accurate. And they must fire. In that fraction of a second, while making the other determinations when do they have time to check to see if the the weapon that is being held is a viable weapon? Do you now expect that they will assess if the weapon is real or just realistic, if it is loaded and if it is in firing condition?
They can only go by the actions of the person holding the gun. They have to assume that the person holding the weapon knows the condition of the gun, and that the person holding the gun knows that the officers weapons are real, loaded and in operating condition. And the person holding the gun still chooses to point the gun they are holding, they must assume the gun is capable of being deadly.
If we expect an officer to protect and serve, to safeguard the lives of others while risking their own, we cannot hamstring them. We cannot overburden them, expect them to do a weapon analysis and still protect and serve with any efficiency.
I feel terrible for the child's family. And to be honest, if it was one of mine my reaction might be similar at this point in time. But in truth at some point they will have to realize their son's choice's and actions were what led to this, no matter how much they wish it wasn't.
I also feel for all the officer's involved. This will be a major impact on them, and not one they will easily get over or get past.
