‘Trigger-happy’ cops shoot 72-year-old Texas man dead inside his own garage [View all]

[99th_Monkey]

The officers in this case who shot the 72-year-old man were relative rookies. The man they shot was armed with a handgun, which the officers claim they told him to drop, and then (they claim) that since he didn't immediately drop the gun, they felt obliged to immediately gunned him down with 6 rounds. The cops were "just following policies and procedures" they claim.

I have two reactions to this:
1) How many of these cases, where citizens are on their own property minding their own lawful business, when police show up and all of a sudden someone gets murdered on their own property for no fucking reason. This happened to an elderly black man in NY 9-10 months ago, where the police came on a "welfare check", the homeowner told officers he was fine (through the closed door) and that the cops could leave now; but instead the cops break down his door and murder him in cold blood. This case in Texas is different in some obvious ways, yet it is also the same in too many ways for my comfort.

2) To all you gun-owners out there, this should be a warning that cops most likely WILL assume that any Joe Blow carrying a gun (even on their own property) is a "threat" to their safety, and will shoot and ask questions later. One more reason I DON"T own a gun, so as to not provoke a cop (or anyone else) to kill me because they're afraid I'm going to shoot them, because I "have a gun".

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‘Trigger-happy’ cops shoot 72-year-old Texas man dead inside his own garage
By Arturo Garcia * Raw Story
Wednesday, May 29, 2013 12:12 EDT

The widow of a 72-year-old Texas man is searching for answers after Fort Worth police shot and killed him on Tuesday while responding to a burglary call involving a house across the street.

“Married 46 years, and, you know, somebody gets a little trigger-happy and away they go,” Kathy Waller said to WFAA-TV on Tuesday after her husband, Jerry Waller, was shot inside the couple’s garage.

Kathy Waller told KHOU the couple noticed police in their Fort Worth neighborhood just after 1 a.m. Tuesday morning. Her husband grabbed his .38-caliber handgun and went downstairs to see what was happening. She said to the station she heard six gunshots afer he opened the garage door.

The Dallas News reported on Tuesday that authorities said in a statement that the two officers were “engaged by an adult male armed with a handgun” and shot him in fear for their safety. Jerry Waller was pronounced dead at the scene.

“I was told by an officer he wouldn’t put his gun down,” former city council member Becky Haskin told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Haskin lives in the same neighborhood as the victim.

The Star-Telegram also reported that the two unidentified officers involved in the shooting have been with the department for less than a year. They have both been placed on administrative leave. A department spokesperson, Cpl. Tracey Knight, also promised to conduct a transparent investigation of the shooting while explaining the officers’ presence in the Wallers’ home.

“Policies and procedures were followed,” Knight told the Star-Telegram. “Officers are taught when they go to a call to survey the entire landscape and not just the small area of where the call is.”

MORE: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/29/trigger-happy-cops-shoot-72-year-old-texas-man-dead-inside-his-own-garage/