More details emerge on Costco shooting

[lapucelle]

A man fatally shot in a Southern California Costco store was mentally ill and off his medication when he pushed or slapped an off-duty police officer who opened fire and killed the man and critically wounded the man's parents, the lawyer for the man's family said Tuesday.

Attorney Dale Galipo said he didn't know if there was any exchange between the officer and Kenneth French before the violence at the store in Corona, east of Los Angeles. Corona police have said French "attacked" the officer "without provocation" but Galipo said that overstated what French did.

"I would hardly characterize it as an attack," Galipo told The Associated Press, describing it as an "open-handed push or slap" to the policeman's back. "It certainly does not justify killing someone."

The officer's attorney, David Winslow, told the AP on Monday that the officer was holding his 1½-year-old son when French knocked him to the ground and he briefly lost consciousness. "It wasn't an innocent push," Winslow said Tuesday.

When he came to, Winslow said, "he believed his life and his son's life was in immediate danger" and fired his handgun.

https://ktla.com/2019/06/18/attorney-man-fatally-shot-by-lapd-officer-at-corona-costco-was-mentally-ill-off-his-medication/

The LA Times is reporting that

The officer — who was identified by multiple sources as Salvador Sanchez, a patrol officer in the Southwest Division — suffered minor injuries.

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-costco-dispute-lapd-shooting-corona-20190618-story.html

[Merlot]

1. When people have a gun close by, the first conclusion always seems to be "my life

is in danger."

[Bettie]

2. At least that is what they say

after the fact, to avoid consequences for their actions.

[gratuitous]

3. Oh! Well, he got pushed down

Well, it's okay then. I mean, I'm not someone who carries a weapon everywhere, so I surely can't know how to react to a minor act of random violence. I'd probably either roll over or get up and say, "What the hell? What was THAT about?!" After all, I'm in a presumably crowded store, and there are lots of folks around, and if swift justice needed to be meted out, there are enough people around to subdue one person.

But no, the proper response is obviously to take out your piece and start discharging lead-based arguments in a crowded store. Attorney Winslow is here to instruct us properly, thank goodness.

[Merlot]

8. There you go with all that rational thinking.

[SHRED]

4. Aren't there security cameras all over the store?

Roll tape!

[lapucelle]

6. California police examine video in fatal Costco shooting

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities are poring through video to figure out how a confrontation between an off-duty Los Angeles police officer and a man described by family as mentally disabled ended in a shooting in a Costco store that killed the man and critically wounded his parents.

The officer opened fire after Kenneth French, 32, of Riverside, attacked him without provocation as the officer held his young child Friday night, according to police in Corona, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of LA.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/california-police-examine-video-in-fatal-costco-shooting

[Hoyt]

5. Even if one believes the "pushing" story, does that justify shooting him and two other people?

[uponit7771]

13. +1, and didn't the LEO was knocked out for a second or two

[SharonClark]

7. Strange sequence of events

1. Man1 shoves/hits/slaps Man2 hard enough to cause him to fall down.
2. Man2 loses consciousness.
3. Man2 regains consciousness.
4. Man2 assesses the situation and concludes...
5. Man1 must die.

Isn't the saying "An eye for an eye"? When did it become "Your life because I have a gun".

[Merlot]

9. He "lost consciousness" for how long - 2 seconds?

And yet, after "loosing consciousness" he was sharp enough to reach for his gun?

I'm guessing the "lost consciousness" is an embelishment to make things sound more dire.

[bullwinkle428]

10. Exactly - if you believe to the letter the shooter's attorney's version of

the events, this can fairly be described as an execution.

[uponit7771]

12. ..👍🏼

[Dennis Donovan]

11. The off duty cop followed Jimbo's Law:

This police officer should be charged with 2nd degree murder.

[grumpyduck]

14. Ok, so the cop was holding his year and a half kid,

but nothing seems to have been mentioned about what happened to the kid if the cop fell with him. If the kid was injured, I'd guess someone would have said something by now.

So either the cop didn't fall, or he wasn't holding the kid.

Let's hope the videos show what really happened.

[MagickMuffin]

15. So. . . . Why shoot his parents???

Was he trying to execute them so no testimonies when he is charged with murder???

[Tipperary]

17. I would imagine there are cameras in the store.

Surely a cop would know that?

[krispos42]

16. If the cop is in civvies...

...the he has to also adopt a civilian mentality. He's not in uniform and not on duty, so a) he doesn't have the legal protection of an on-duty cop, and b) doesn't have the social/psychological boundary that being in uniform gives you.

In other words, he's just another guy.