"The shooting is a sign of things tocome as criminals become better armed and police try to match their firepower,"
then Portland Police Chief Tom Potter, about 1996.
A SWAT team armed with fully automatic HK MP-5 submachineguns had gunned down an African American grandfather. They shot him at least 28 times, including 22 rounds in the back. They opened fire when they mistook a butane lighter for a gun. The warning proved prophetic, both locally and nationally.
This one occurred close to David Weber's home.
https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/ ... 855233001/
In my opinion, this was no inocent misunderstanding, it was a "SWATing". Someone called in a false alarm out of spite for the homeowner. The audio of the 911 call seems inconsistant with a call from a real alarm company.
The video in context of official public statements effectively convicts the officer.
Some would argue that this incident is a consequence of living in a culture where guns are so prolific that the police have become paranoid.
I would argue that this is the consequence of the American Gun Control Lobby encouraging police paranoia. The official count of homicides by police that are reported to the FBI is about 300-400 per year. A similar but not identicle number of killings by law enforcement is reported by Medical Examiners to Vital Statistics of the United States. A lot of killings by police are recorded by MEs as "suicide by cop." Researchers find that while 2/3s of killings by police are reported to both systems, comparisons suggests that the true number is about 50% higher than is reported to either. The unofficial count by various groups who track news reports is well over 1,000 perople are killed by police each year. Some are justified, but many such as this one are not.
The 30 second time lag for audio from the body camerra is inexcusable. We do not know for certain if the cop identified himself,but the immediate statements by the home owner suggest that he didnt.
Also inexcusable was not activating the lights on the police car to effectively identify themselves. I see no evidence that the home owner pointed a gun at anyone but I guarentee you that he would not have had the gun visible as he approached the door if he had known that the police were at his door.
I know I had a somewhat similar situation where a cop drove up and started shining a flashlight through a window by my back door without identifying himself or ringing the door bell. I had approached the door assuming that it was merely a legitimate visitor and was unarmed. The cop in question had prior history with me that included an attempt to shoot me in the groin with my own pistol. Thank God that he was too stupid to realize that unlike his Sig Sauer P-226, that little lever on the pistol was a safety rather than a decockihg lever. He lost bowell as well as bladder control when I told him to "get the fuck off my property" then bravely ran away. It was reminiscent of the scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail where Brave, Brave Sir Robin meets the three headed giant.
Before shooting their mouths off about "gun nuts" I would remind everyone that David Weber is a "gun nut." This could have been him or Sharron or one of their kids.
Hot dn!
I found an article on the Renfrew shooting.
http://www.mentalhealthportland.org/ana ... frow-case/
My recollection of the date was a bit off.
I was actually a source of information for the journalist who wrote this. My own Op Ed in response had inspired a request from the family of the deceased to review the autopsy and police reports. In my opinion, the guy could not have been holding the gun and had the police shoot it out of his hand.
