Sniper X
Member
I lived in Albuquerque a few years ago. I was living in a fairly large house 2975sqft for only one guy and a buddy who was a roommate after my divorce. I use to shoot my bow in my side yard a few hours a day and when cops would drive by they would usually stop, watch, and be amazed at the tight groups, give me a thumbs up and drive off.
One day a kid walks up and watches for a few minutes and starts asking questions. He was obviously how should I say this, mentally not all there. But he was pleasant, very well mannered, and pretty articulate for a kid who was chronologically about 19 but mentally about 9~10. Nice kid.
He would come around in the summer and watch me shoot for an hour or so and go back to where he was living with his grandparents because his parents were both crank (Meth) heads.
One day he showed up with his new very coveted prize, a new pump action single shot pellet gun his GP's had bought him. This was in an area where there was a big field that had a bunch of prairie dogs in it ripe for the pickens.
He had gotten a job as a dish washer at the Denny's type restaurant at the corner by my house, which was only about 30 yards away from my front door.
He would walk to work and stop at the Prairie dog town and shoot at them ( missing he wasn't a good shot) and go on to work where he would stash the pellet gun in the bushes, go work, get the gun back out and walk home.
One night a customer saw him getting the pellet gun out of the bush, and called 911 from the restaurant, probably a total anti, she was interviewed after the fact and said she thought it looked like a "Canon".
He got about to my front walkway and the cops swooped in like they were about to collar Charles Manson, there were about 12 of them. They of course used the regular protocol to get him to drop the weapon, but of course he didn't understand them. Remember he was only about 9 years old mentally and probably scared crapless....
well you probably know where this is going, they shot and killed him and had I been there I would have not only been able to tell them he was mentally challenged, but been able to tell them it was a FRIGGIN PELLET GUN!
My whole reason for posting this is two fold, why weren't the cops trained well enough in weapons recognition to see this was obviously a pellet gun, and why didn't someone form the Shoney's come out and tell them it was a pellet gun or that he was mentally challenged, I hear they were all at the window watching this unfold. AND the cops listened to one scared rabbit who said this little toy of a pellet gun Looked like a Canon!
It bugged me then and bugs me now that the police got away with this screw up and makes me know they are still to this day under trained in some factors of a very important area they should know about.
One day a kid walks up and watches for a few minutes and starts asking questions. He was obviously how should I say this, mentally not all there. But he was pleasant, very well mannered, and pretty articulate for a kid who was chronologically about 19 but mentally about 9~10. Nice kid.
He would come around in the summer and watch me shoot for an hour or so and go back to where he was living with his grandparents because his parents were both crank (Meth) heads.
One day he showed up with his new very coveted prize, a new pump action single shot pellet gun his GP's had bought him. This was in an area where there was a big field that had a bunch of prairie dogs in it ripe for the pickens.
He had gotten a job as a dish washer at the Denny's type restaurant at the corner by my house, which was only about 30 yards away from my front door.
He would walk to work and stop at the Prairie dog town and shoot at them ( missing he wasn't a good shot) and go on to work where he would stash the pellet gun in the bushes, go work, get the gun back out and walk home.
One night a customer saw him getting the pellet gun out of the bush, and called 911 from the restaurant, probably a total anti, she was interviewed after the fact and said she thought it looked like a "Canon".
He got about to my front walkway and the cops swooped in like they were about to collar Charles Manson, there were about 12 of them. They of course used the regular protocol to get him to drop the weapon, but of course he didn't understand them. Remember he was only about 9 years old mentally and probably scared crapless....
well you probably know where this is going, they shot and killed him and had I been there I would have not only been able to tell them he was mentally challenged, but been able to tell them it was a FRIGGIN PELLET GUN!
My whole reason for posting this is two fold, why weren't the cops trained well enough in weapons recognition to see this was obviously a pellet gun, and why didn't someone form the Shoney's come out and tell them it was a pellet gun or that he was mentally challenged, I hear they were all at the window watching this unfold. AND the cops listened to one scared rabbit who said this little toy of a pellet gun Looked like a Canon!
It bugged me then and bugs me now that the police got away with this screw up and makes me know they are still to this day under trained in some factors of a very important area they should know about.