Guy With Ak47 vs. The Rook - police shooting breakdown

[MechAg94]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8IAiwn89ws&t=115s

I thought I would bring this video over here and get your reaction.  The police go from doing a welfare check to breaking into his house with an armored truck.  I thought they mishandled the situation in the first few minutes, but I am curious what you think. 

There was mention he may have been making threats, but that was still being investigated.  He was pretty short with the police and didn't want to talk to them.  He seemed to be speaking clearly to me though he kept saying he thought police were trying to kill him. 

[Hawkmoon]

In the end, a citizen was killed by the police in the privacy of his own home.

That said, without more information I have to concede that the police were in a no-win situation. If it was just a welfare check -- he was up, mobile, and [somewhat] lucid. He asked them to go away, and they didn't. If I were in that situation (as a homeowner), I'd be upset, too.

If he had been making threats, that changes the situation considerably. If they had gone away without doing anything and he then proceeded to shoot or kill someone, they (the cops) would be criticized for not having prevented the shooting.

My summary is that two wrongs don't make a right, and in this case both sides acted idiotically.

[Ben]

Not sure there is enough info for me to give a good opinion. From the video, I think the dead guy is at fault from the point he started taking potshots. He should be able to walk around inside his house all he wants with the gun, and use it to defend himself from a break-in, maybe even by the cops. But once he started shooting at whatever outside his house, he set himself up for trouble.

While I still don't like LE getting tacticooled up with the armored rides, that rook makes me want to get a bobcat and start making modifications to it. 

[Phyphor]

Yeah, once the guy told them to leave, they should have left UNLESS they were planning on taking him into custody for the threatening messages.  If that were the case, it strikes me that the best thing to do would be to grab him when he left his house rather than lay siege to it like they did (like they do drug dealers and such, they don't tend to roll into those homes, they do a traffic stop and grab the guy. )

[MechAg94]

I guess I thought both sides messed up.  The way cops are set up now, once they mess up, they aren't going to just back off. 

He could have kept talking until he knew they left.  Didn't have to say anything, just kept telling them he was fine and didn't need help, goodbye.  The "cops are trying to kill me" stuff just looks nutty.  It is always in my mind that some people don't communicate well especially when they are excited which might happen when cops show up at your door.  I was also thinking he should have turned off his interior lights.

As said above, the cops didn't have to keep snooping around after he closed the door.  They didn't have to treat the sight of a gun in the home as an automatic arrest warrant (they asked him about a concealed carry gun already).  Donut said the threats were still being investigated.  They could have pulled back and waited until that investigation had finished.  Picked him up somewhere else if there was a reason. 

[Phyphor]

Like I said, a LOT of times where there's serious weaponry suspected in the house, they'll grab the guy at a traffic stop rather than enter his home.

That's more like what should have happened here.  Total shitshow from all sides.

[Ben]

Like I said, a LOT of times where there's serious weaponry suspected in the house, they'll grab the guy at a traffic stop rather than enter his home.

They don't do this anywhere near enough, IMO.

[Phyphor]

Because if they did, they wouldn't get to get their hut hut hut on and use all those new tacticool toys.  Dogs ain't gonna shoot themselves.

[Fly320s]

Since when do the police get to decide if someone mentally competent enough to live on his own?