Another Kind of Extra-Judicial Killing [View all]

[MineralMan]

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2012/01/calif-police-sniper-kills-kidnapper-who-was-holding-girl/1#.URLFpx1WyuI

Calif. police sniper kills kidnapper who was holding girl

A SWAT sniper killed an armed kidnapper who was holding the 11-year-old daughter of his ex-girlfriend, whom he abducted early today in the heart Silicon Valley, the San Jose Mercury News reports.

The girl, identified as Taylor Vo, was taken at gunpoint from her home about 1:20 a.m. PT (4:20 a.m. ET) by 42-year-old Tri Truong Le, police said. The girl was unharmed.

Such shootings by police snipers in hostage situations occur with some regularity in the United States. Every last one of them is extra-judicial, and happens when the risk to a hostage or hostages is deemed by police at the scene to require deadly force. Generally, someone at a relatively high rank gives a sniper permission to fire if an opportunity presents itself.

Such shootings are almost always determined later to be justified by a court or other body.

You can find more such incidents by Googling "police sniper kills" hostage.

They don't happen every day, by any means, but they do happen, and are virtually always extra-judicial. Often, they save a life or lives, by taking one. Are such shootings wrong? That depends on how you look at them, I guess, and on the individual situation, but they occur regularly.

It seems to me that blanket condemnation of such actions is not wise. That is why I am taking no position on this topic in general, especially as it applies to our military, when in operation outside the US. I do not have adequate information to make a call on these, and I'm unwilling to make a blanket statement about them.