Waving hand...I've got a question!

[PearliePoo2]

If they wanted the kid ALIVE so badly, then WHY did they shoot the fucking shit out of that boat?
(he wasn't returning fire and re-portably had no weapon)

[Honeycombe8]

1. If they wanted to kill him, they would have.

Maybe they were trying to scare him into getting out of the boat. They had given him the police protocol of who they were, to come out with hands up, etc. When the suspected murderer doesn't come out, they have to get him out or go get him.

[randome]

2. This is the picture that someone posted first but I've copied elsewhere.

These look like impact points, not bullet holes, to me. Although I'm given to understand that there may have been some confusion and SOME Watertown cops may have used live ammo, it still seems to me that most of the rounds used were likely rubber bullets.

And people describing the boat as 'swiss cheese' doesn't really match, either. Swiss cheese has holes.

[PearliePoo2]

7. That makes sense if they were rubber bullets that did not penetrate the hull.

Otherwise, if if was regular bullets, I don't see how he could have escaped getting hit with that pattern.

[dkf]

3. They freaked out?

[gateley]

4. I'm guessing they will be questioned about this and will give us the answer -- hopefully soon.

[Warpy]

5. They saw him stick his hand out of the boat and thought he had a gun

Remember, it was pretty dark out there and lighting the area did only so much.

I'm not second guessing the cops on this one. The whole thing was regrettable, but running from the police after you or your brother has killed one of them always ends badly.

So far, it looks like he's going to recover.

[PearliePoo2]

6. Heat-seeking showed he was in there, right?

so to shower the boat with bullets would risk hitting him, no?