I don’t know if anyone else has seen this
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42523045
But the police statement seems absolutely terrible
Trained officers fired a single shot (1 shot multiple officers) killing an unarmed innocent man, and it’s the fault of the person who made the prank call!?!

Well that’s quite what the story says now is it.

Terrible incident though.

They said one round was released by officers after the 28-year-old failed to comply with verbal orders to keep his hands up, and appeared to move his hands toward his waist multiple times.

I think if multiple armed officers were pointing guns at me and telling me to keep my hands up…

and it’s the fault of the person who made the prank call!?!

sounds about right, aye.

I think if multiple armed officers were pointing guns at me and telling me to keep my hands up…

I think if I went to my front door to be confronted by a heavily armed swat team screaming at me, I might be a bit confused.

The militarisation of police response tactics and armaments in America is shocking. The politics that have created the police as a homeland military force is as responsible as the “prank call”.

The police had to treat it as a real threat, and probably did so according to their training. They might have mishandled the situation, they might have done it by the book.

The American police often lie about incident such as this. Until they provide video footage then I suggest they just shot him when he opened the door, and that if they did shout to put his hands up he didn’t hear or misunderstood. Anyhow American police = trigger-happy cowboys.

But nobody forces any of us Europeans to go to the US, Saudi, Nigeria, Mexico or any other **** up place.

Read that earlier, the Police are saying with a straight face that it’s the fault of the ‘prankster’…

It’s typical of their risk adverse nature these days, they get an unconfirmed report that someone is armed and dangerous that’s enough to justify shooting and killing an unarmed, innocent man.

There is footage on the Wichita Police Facebook page..
Cop with an Itchy trigger finger and a guy who moves his arms with fatal consequences.

It’s a ‘thing’ called ‘swatting’, where morons call in hoax calls about an armed siege or whatever, in order to get an armed police/SWAT response, a bit like phoning in hoax fire calls, but with the likelihood of a really tragic outcome with trigger-happy cops.
Thankfully far less likely here.

Read that earlier, the Police are saying with a straight face that it’s the fault of the ‘prankster’…

They say the incident was caused by the prankster, I can’t see where they say the shot him because of the prankster.

The video edit is to short to draw any conclusion other than the Police murdered a man.

Crooks kill a lot more deliberately!

It seems to happen quite often where the person who is shot is moving their hands towards their waistband. There was one recently where someone had been asked to crawl towards police but had reached to pull his shorts up and had been shot. Not clear what solution is as US police really are at risk but balance looks wrong at moment

If the good guy had a gu… oh, no, wait, nows not the time to talk about that.

Could they not have called the house to verify or used a megaphone? Knocking on a door, when there’s allegedly a man with hostages and a can of petrol in there, seems a bit unprofessional IMO.

Tragic loss of life in a supposed civilised country that sees far too much of it.

Could they not have called the house to verify

“Hi, we’re just calling to see if you’ve killed your entire family and are planning on burning the house down is that right?”

“No.”

“Ah! That’s Ok sorry to trouble you.”

they shine a bright torch in his face looks like he raises a hand to shield his eyes from the glare and gets shot for his trouble. Shot first ask questions later gets pranked it would be funny if it wasn’t so bloody tragic.

@Drac – Or more likely, establish contact before resorting to physical entry. But that would be a sensible conclusion to draw. 🙄

Drac – Moderator
Read that earlier, the Police are saying with a straight face that it’s the fault of the ‘prankster’…
They say the incident was caused by the prankster, I can’t see where they say the shot him because of the prank

A quote in the article

Due to the actions of a prankster, we have an innocent victim. Had the false police call not been made, we would not have been there.

This is where my original claim of blaming the prankster came from

Due to the actions of a prankster, we have an innocent victim. Had the false police call not been made, we would not have been there.

Seems a fair point to me.

Or more likely, establish contact before resorting to physical entry. But that would be a sensible conclusion to draw.

Maybe but not convinced a phone call is the way to do it.

I suspect the original Twitter user will be a bit worried now. They may have tried to hide their location but if they’ve been using the same account for any length of time they are bound to have made a mistake. That’s what caught the PayPal hackers a few years ago. It only takes one mistake now

Holding your hands in the air is not a natural position. If you are confused and let you hands drop from the door handle or move them to you hips you get shot. If you move your hands from your side in any way other than the perfect way you get shot.

Police are trained to shoot first and question later because everyone might be carrying a gun. The entire gun culture and the fact everyone is afraid of everyone else is **** to be honest.

Many of the pro gun conservatives I know say that you should respect the police and do whatever they say without question… they also think that this type of policing and “respect” is what keeps them free

The “Swatting” thing is a phenomenon I’ve heard of a few times over the last couple of years. In addition to online gaming (or forum or reddit) disputes it’s apparently something which people use to attack people in they public eye the disagree with like journalists or youtubers.

Back in the day, the “confidential telephone no” for tips against terrorists in NI was apparently used in similar fashion as a tool to annoy or victimise people you had a grudge against. At least, that was the rumour.

“Hi, we’re just calling to see if you’ve killed your entire family and are planning on burning the house down is that right?”

“No.”

“Ah! That’s Ok sorry to trouble you.”

You think someone who has doused a house in petrol, killed his father and has his remaining family members at gun point would be calm and collected? Not so sure myself. It would still beat knocking on the door and then murdering an innocent man.

It would still beat knocking on the door and then murdering an innocent man.

Which didn’t happen either.

Which didn’t happen either.

How would you describe it then? Manslaughter, honest mistake, lawful killing, tragedy that’s the fault of the one making the call and not the over zealous American police force who would appear to do this sort of thing on s regular basis?I’d definitely call the shooting of an unarmed, innocent man murder regardless of who’s doing the killing.

Edit – sorry, they didn’t even knock on the door. The poor bastard just walked out

America, where they ban people from being cops because they are too clever.

sorry, they didn’t even knock on the door. The poor bastard just walked out

Yup.

Shot him before they could confirm. 🙁

Well at least the incident and officer involved will be investigated by an impartial and independent body with full oversight and it’s findings made public…………aahh no, my bad. 🙁

Why do they shoot to kill straight away? why not in the leg or something?

the over zealous American police force who would appear to do this sort of thing on s regular basis

“Hello, Police, there’s a bloke just left the pub, he’s got an Irish accent and he’s carrying a sawn off shotgun in a blue plastic bag”

A bit more background on the assholes responsible:
https://boingboing.net/2017/12/30/murder-by-cop.html
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/12/after-swatting-death-in-kansas-25-year-old-arrested-in-los-angeles/

America, where they ban people from being cops because they are too clever.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRLVgFNTnIg[/video]

Drac
Seems a fair point to me

Due to the actions of a prankster, we have an innocent victim. Had the false police call not been made, we would not have been there.

Due to the actions of the police officers, we have an innocent victim
Just beacause the police are there doesn’t mean they have to kill somebody

Why do they shoot to kill straight away? why not in the leg or something?

Bullets don’t mess around, if you shoot at someone, you are shooting to kill.

Why do they shoot to kill straight away? why not in the leg or something?

You think life’s a film set? I guess you aim at the torso as it’s the biggest target.

moving their hands towards their waistband. There was one recently where someone had been asked to crawl towards police but had reached to pull his shorts up and had been shot.

I saw that, it was as if they wanted to trick him into making a mistake so they had a reason to shoot him.

“LIE FACE DOWN ON THE GROUND. IF YOU DON’T DO EXACTLY AS I SAY I WILL SHOOT YOU. PUT YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEAD AND INTERLACE YOUR FINGERS. NOW GET UP ONTO YOUR KNEES. I SAID KEEP YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEAD. NOW CRAWL TOWARDS ME. I SAID KEEP YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEAD. CRAWL TOWARDS ME. KEEP YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEAD.”

I understand the word crawl to mean something like this :

To be told to simultaneously crawl AND keep your hands on your head by someone who’s said he’ll kill you if you don’t do exactly what he says must be terrifying.

A suspension on full pay will learn him. This one was a bit weirder though.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/17/australian-woman-justine-damond-shot-dead-by-us-police-in-minneapolis

Oh great. I’m going there next week and it’s bad enough worrying about whether I’m going to get shot going to the loo… 🙄

Rachel

You think life’s a film set? I guess you aim at the torso as it’s the biggest target.

I think that a highly trained swat team at close distance should be able to shoot their gun accurately and perhaps more importantly not just shoot it at any person that moves their hands.

But maybe we cant understand because we dont live in a country where anyone could actually have a gun on them.