That's pretty damning of cops, who generally have a pretty good record of not shooting people, even armed bad guys, unless they are convinced in the moment they absolutely have to.
There are better and worse ways to go about communicating and interacting with the police in a home invasion situation. And sometimes things go badly wrong, like it appears here.
But I don't agree that you should deal with a potentially violent situation yourself and try to get it "handled" before you contact the police, if you have a choice. If nothing else, I wouldn't want to have to answer why I DIDN'T feel concerned enough for my life and family to call the police, but did decide to go hunt down and kill a thief, vandal, burglar, etc.
Planning a sound defensive strategy for your home should help you avoid ever having this kind of an unfortunate end. Deciding ahead of time what to say to the dispatcher, where to be when the police arrive, and what you should be doing and not doing when they get there will go a long way. Saying if the police know someone's in the house with a gun then they're going to shoot someone who has a gun, period, seems highly irresponsible, and doesn't reflect the attitudes or procedures of any of the officers I've known.
Grin. Quote of the day.