Man Shot Dead After Trying to Surprise Father-in-Law

[Jedi Guy]

19. Your point about thinking one is in danger vs. being in danger relies on hindsight, though.

There was an instance where a man who'd been acting erratically assumed a "shooter's stance" and pointed a metallic object at police officers with both hands. Not surprisingly, they opened fire and he was killed. The metallic object turned out to be an e-cigarette.

Sure, they weren't in any real danger, but they had no way of knowing it was an e-cigarette and not a gun when it was pointed at them.

Sometimes an objective measure of danger can't be established until after the fact. That's why there's the "reasonable person" concept in law. Based on what was known at that moment, is the action reasonable?

In this case, rather than going out to confront a supposed relative with gun in hand, he could have called the police and remained indoors. It might've turned out to be the kind of wacky misunderstanding they'd laugh about years later.