Berkeley (MO) officials: Man killed by police had pointed gun at officer

[branford]

34. In response,

1. Some people walk around with illegal firearms and even point them at others because they are criminals and/or stupid, nothing more, nothing less. There are any number of 18 year old males in across the country, of all races, doing it right now. We don't need conspiracy theories to account for not unexpected human behavior. See, Occam's Razor.

2. The name and identity of the officer is not being released because a thorough investigation has determined that he has done nothing wrong. The officers name does not change any pertinent facts. We already know his body camera was not turned on, have the gun in evidence, videos of the shooting, the decedent's criminal record, etc.

There is simply no reason to expose him to the mob and potentially destroy his career, or worse, his life. However, any individual can seek to discover his identity through legal channels like a state records request, although I imagine that absent a criminal charge against the officer, his identity might be an exception to any disclosure rules. There is also nothing preventing any intrepid reporter or regular citizen from actually trying to ascertain the officer's identity and reporting it. In fact, I would surmise that a great many people outside the department and town administration know full well who the officer is, and are not reporting it for the very same reasons it was not officially released.

Lastly, what video footage has purportedly not been released. Multiple posters have provided a number of full videos of the incident.