Middle School Student Shot by SWAT Team

[amsterdam]

Its a sad story but the cops were completely justified in shooting. If I were confronted by a kid who wanted to rob me and he had a weapon that looked like a .44 mag or whatever I would have shot his bitch ass too!

[Shelbay]

Its a sad story but the cops were completely justified in shooting. If I were confronted by a kid who wanted to rob me and he had a weapon that looked like a .44 mag or whatever I would have shot his bitch ass too!

You live by the gun and you will die by it. May get your confrontation one day...hope your a quick draw. :smokin:

[Fengzi]

Contrary to the image that most of the world has of America, most police officers never fire a gun at anyone during the course of their careers.

Excellent point and one that most people never take into consideration. Police are trained to shoot when they feel their safety or the safety of others is in jeopardy. While traing may be good it can never take the place of real life and, as Breukelen points out, most never even experience that situation in their life. When and if it does happen most likley they are scared shitless, like you or I would be, and simply react to save themselves. Its instinct and can't be trained out of a person.

People tend to assume that police have some kind of superpower that makes them immune to stress and adrenalin. This isn't the case. Nor do police have a superpower that gives them the ability to instantly analyze the situation and determine if its a real gun or not. All they know is that someone who might be threat to their life has just made a potentially agressive move. So they raise their gun and shoot, hoping to hit the target before the target hits them.