Anyone here ever been in a stand-off situation? I was on-scene at a shooting back in 1996, as a young prosecutor advising the investigation and assisting with warrants and such when a kid opened fire on the scene with a .22. By kid, I mean a 17 year old. Turned out it was the son of the original shooter. Ultimately, kid was drunk and hit nothing but police cars, neighbor cars, and neighbor houses. My boss and the police chief authorized a forced entry, and the kid was taken into custody with no injuries. Listening to the discussion about entry vs. waiting him out came down to a concern that the shooter would hit someone. A cop on scene, or a person in a nearby home.
The question for this discussion is this...do you force the neighbors out of their homes for their own safety while you let a shooter sit it out? And for how long? Think about how you would feel if a cop came to your door and said you have to leave because a man down the street is shooting at people. You'd be pissed off and tell the cops to stop the guy and leave you in peace. Or, what if they are "sitting and waiting it out" and the guy starts firing shots, and the shots end up hitting a kid down the street. Get a ricochet off a cruiser and a neighbor gets hit and killed. This is unfortunately a "needs of the many vs the needs of a few, or the one" situation. For whatever reason, the man started shooting. He reaped the consequences of his choices.
