The other side of the story begins.
https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2020-03-17/police-man-shot-by-officer-had-rifle-ignored-commands
Not sure how you get a conviction that prohibits you from owning firearms until 30, as mentioned in the article. That's pretty weird.
Still it's another situation where no-knocks are clearly being abused. The crimes he's accused of are not the type of crimes where you can destroy evidence (guns don't flush down the toilet very well), and he's not going to hurt anyone in the house.
I'm still very interested in body cam footage. Supposedly multiple eyewitness reports support the original assertion that police fired into the house before announcing themselves or breaching the door.
I flat don't believe them. Too many weasel words in that police statement.
"He was in front of the door when we entered the room"
Cool, where was he when you shot him?
"He ignored commands to show his hands when we entered the house."
Where was he when you shot him?
"He had a rifle when we got to his bedroom"
Where. Was. He. When. You. Shot. Him.
The department’s statement does not specify when Lemp was fatally shot.
I'm going to think they shot him through his window, as the witness said, and then before he died he got his gun and got ready to repel the borders that had just shot him. And when the people that had shot him ordered him to throw up his hands and surrender, he declined. Honestly, kinda on his side there.
If the police have evidence that the eyewitness is lying, they should present it forthwith. Otherwise, I tend to go with what seems to be the majority case when No-knocks get someone killed. The police got trigger happy, and are trying to cover their ass again.
I am of the opinion that at this point in policing in the US, there is never a valid excuse for a no-knock search warrant. There is not a single instance or crime where the right answer is half-trained yahoo's *expletive deleted*ing up a dynamic entry.