Hofstra Student in Home Invasion Was Killed by Police Gunshot: Officials

[dballance]

60. I'm Not Really Qualified to Know Whether 8 Shots Were Excessive. Neither are most people posting.

I'm not a trained LEO and I wasn't in that particular situation at that time. Nor do I have any better information about the shooting than does probably everyone commenting on this thread who is ready to charge the officer with murder and sue the city for wrongful death. I have seen some followup stories to the initial one. No where in them have I seen it suggested that the officer was a "cowboy" or had a history of over-reacting or that he over-reacted in this situation.

I have heard, at multiple times, that when an officer fires their weapon it is not uncommon practice, and they may even be trained, to empty the weapon in a close fire situation like the one we're discussing. Namely, self-defense from an armed gunman. Trained LEO or not, the officer is human. There is some level of adrenaline and panic that must set in.

By the time he started firing he was no longer really firing to stop the perp with the hostage. He was firing in self-defense at a gunman who aimed the gun at him with the apparent intention to disable or kill the officer. You have to look at that a whole different way than just stopping a perp with a gun and a hostage.

Don't forget there was another officer there too that the officer who fired was trying to protect as well as the hostage. The officer who fired made the decision to defend three lives as best as possible as he could at the time. His, his partner's, and the hostage's. It is a real tragedy that the hostage lost her life. But two other people walked away alive. Nope 2/3 is not as great as all three (I discount the gunman in the numbers because I feel once you pull a gun on a the police in that situation you've forfeited your life). If he'd ducked, or not fired we don't know what would have happened. We don't even know if it was possible for him to take cover. We do know the gunman would have still had a live weapon and three targets.

Certainly, there are situations where officers act like cowboys, act negligently and people get injured or killed. As investigations are done and the information comes out this may turn out to be one of those situations.

Until the investigation is done I think it's just so many opinions on a an discussion board. Both sides need to be represented in the discussion though. So I'm trying to make people ask questions based on the real information they have rather than simply jump to conclusions.