Cop knocks on door, blows away homeowner when he answers

[TheeBadOne]

SOUTH PHOENIX - Police shot and killed a man Friday evening after they said he answered a door with a pistol raised toward officers.

Police were called to an apartment in the 900 block of West Alta Vista Road after reports of shots fired, spokesman Sgt. Randy Force said. When they knocked on the door, the man answered and was holding the pistol, he said.

Details on how many officers were involved and how many shots were fired were not available late Friday. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

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I'm going to guess either suicide by Cop (shot to attract them), or mentally ill. Hope they post follow up on this one.

 

[Zundfolge]

I'm going to guess either suicide by Cop (shot to attrack them), or mentally ill. Hope they post follow up on this one.

Or, shots where fired in the neighborhood so this guy armed himself "just in case" (which is exactly what I would do) ... when someone came to the door he answered with the gun at his side (the "pointed at police officers" part could have been added later as a CYA for the police involved).

Or it was a good shoot ... either way, not enough info to go on here.

 

[c_yeager]

Yeah, its always a possibility with ANY article (even the "good" ones) that all those involved were lying. Im going to point that out for every article i ever see posted.

 

[MicroBalrog]

How do we know that he was the one firing the shots?

 

[Diggler]

That's why CCW and discretion is, by leaps and bounds, superior to open carry.

 

[tiberius]

Shooting a man in his own house sounds more like murder to me. Who knows the truth may (or may not) come out.

 

[FPrice]

MicroBalrog...

"How do we know that he was the one firing the shots?"

We don't. But we have a reasonably strong suspicious that he WAS the one who opened the door with a pistol in hand.

NOT a brilliant career move. Sometimes common sense is the key to living to the end of your allotted years.

It seems to me that way some people are leaping to the conclusion that the cops just shot him for the heck of it. Sometimes, just sometimes, the shooting may be in fact justified.

 

[standingbear]

...I'll try and remember this when i hear gunshots outside in the middle of the night and then hear someone beating on the door.Hopfully the dog wont rush out when i open the door to see who it is.

 

[Cactus]

Originally posted by standingbear:
...I'll try and remember this when i hear gunshots outside in the middle of the night and then hear someone beating on the door.

I realize that I'm probably just being paranoid, but if I hear shots at night, and someone is banging at the door, I LOOK TO SEE WHO'S AT THE DOOR before I open it!:banghead:

 

[oldfart]

I had a cop come to my BACK door one night when there was a domestic disturbance next door. I answered the door with a gun in my hand and when I saw who was there I just laid it on top of the refrigerator. He didn't go postal on me or insist that I unload it or anything. He just asked me some questions and left. He was a good cop.

There ARE bad cops though. Some are just grown-up over-armed playground bullies who insist on being "in charge" of every situation. They give the good guys a bad name. I don't know whether the cops in this situation were right or wrong and I'd bet good money we'll never know either. Anything we hear on the incident will come from the media which gets it from the police departement that's trying to cover its a$$.

 

[Quartus]

Agreed, oldstinky.

I realize that I'm probably just being paranoid, but if I hear shots at night, and someone is banging at the door, I LOOK TO SEE WHO'S AT THE DOOR before I open it!

Oh, THAT'S just weird!


And I suppose if it's cops you'll put the gun out of sight first, too!


Just plain weird.



Hmmm. Or maybe at least two IQ points above brain dead.

 

[P95Carry]

Far too little to go on for much more than conjecture and speculation.

 

[geekWithA.45]

This could _easily_ be a fatal case of bad muzzle discipline combined with police hair triggers.

Homeowner opens door, gun generally pointed out of said door. Cops see muzzle pointed at them, shoot.

Is it reasonable to point a handgun in the general direction of the door you're opening if you've heard shots fired, door banging?

Maybe. Maybe not.

It could be the bg, gun ready and waiting, it could be a victim asking for help, or the cops looking around. (assuming he had no peephole) There's just now way to tell till you open the door.

Is it reasonable to shoot someone if they open a door and have a gun generally pointed outwards?

Maybe. Maybe not.

It could be the person folks have been complaining about, who perhaps just murdered someone. Or it could be a sleepy next door neighbhor who was alarmed at the sound of the shooting and armed himself. Again, there's just no way to tell immediately.

You put the two of them together, each assuming the worst of all possibilities, you get exactly this.

 

[Coronach]

There is utterly NO way to tell from the article what happened exactly, and if it was a good shoot or not. This will not stop this from becoming a long and boisterous thread, with no additional information of any worth added to it. We will see what we want to see. Just a prediction.

Mike

 

[c_yeager]

Well, OK. Lets just stipulate that the guy who got shot WASNT a bad guy. In fact lets say that he was just a cautious man opening his door for an unknown person. Even assuming ALL of that he is still violating 3 out of the 4 rules of safe gunholding (and im being generous it MAY BE 4 i just dont know if his finger was on the trigger). Around here if someone violates even ONE rule and ends up dead we generally accept that though it may be a tragedy its also his own damn fault. Why does this get turned upside down when the cops are involved?

 

[Art Eatman]

"Details were not available..."

That's why this thread isn't, either.

Speculation over "news" articles like this makes about as much sense as trying to hire out to pick flypoop out of pepper.

Art