Home Invasion Hostage killed by Police Fire

[Creature]

Maybe the story here is that the cop should not have put himself in a position where he was left with the choice of kill or be killed. Yet another instance where intervention by the police only made the situation worse.

I concur with this thought.

 

[alsaqr]

The hostage taker was holding the lady and pointing a gun at her head. Then he pointed the gun at the policeman, who fired.

Sorry for the death of the hostage lady. Sorry for the ordeal the policeman must go through. When bullets start flying bad unintended things sometimes happen.

 

[vito]

There is evil in the world, and for some things there is really no good solution. I agree that we don't know all of the facts, but even when we find out more we aren't in the situation the LEO found himself in where he had to react immediately. Sad all around except that the criminal is dead.

 

[Manco]

He should have taken a carefully aimed shot at the suspects head BEFORE the gun was aimed at him.

With the average level of shooting expertise of modern LEOs, I can't be sure whether this was the best option. Such shots can be made rapidly and accurately under stress, but it requires the right type of person and for the vast majority of people extensive training (of the shooting kind), which frankly most LEOs do not undergo (no offense intended, it's just the simple fact).

I wasn't there, so there's no way to know if he could have done anything differently.

We need a more complete picture of the situation to really do any kind of analysis. For the time being, I'd give the officer the benefit of the doubt and assume that his life was in immediate danger, which justifies the shooting; if/when more details emerge, we shall see. Hitting the target with 7 of 8 shots, however tragic that one miss is, also works in his favor. Especially under the circumstances, he should have had a sight picture for each shot and sufficient training to not mash down on the trigger when under stress, throwing his shots off, but this is beyond the standard required of a typical LEO (and most civilians aren't any better).

I know armchair quarterbacking is much easier than decisions made on the spot but maybe waiting for a hostage negotiating team with trained marksmen would have been a better option.

Yes, but that's only IF he even had that option under the circumstances.

The second problem is that most officers try to put the most lead possible downrange.

Like many people would, they panic at least a little when their lives are actually being threatened. It would take a lot of training to overcome this.

 

[Torian]

Sometimes the perp will do whatever he/she can to make sure things end poorly. Cops don't always have many choices left to them once the shooting starts. Terrorists use civilians to create collateral damage the same way in war zones overseas.

I would be curious to know whether they were behind cover when the shooting started...or out in the open...which may have forced their hand earlier than they would have liked.

Either way...all conjecture until the facts come out.

 

[Robert]

While this is very sad it is not really on topic for THR.