Why use deadly force?

[TheTerminator]

A man who was fatally shot by police in a Wal-Mart store in a Dayton suburb after officers say he waved a weapon at customers was carrying an air rifle, Ohio's attorney general said Thursday.

Why not shoot the perp in the arm, I know it is easy for me to say since I was not the shooter but did the guy have to die?

 

[babyleans]

I wonder this too but i think it's because they usually don't want to take any chances. For example if they shoot him in the hand he might get angry and go ahead and shoot with the other arm.

 

[ic3squid]

Well, it's usually quite hard to distinguish an air rifle from a real rifle. And air rifles can be dangerous too, they can kill. In this case the officers didn't know that it was an air rifle and decided to shoot him in concern of the public safety.

 

[Rob93FL]

When someone is pointing a weapon at others, you don't risk it. Shooting to kill results in one death: the attacker's. Shooting to injure doesn't guarantee that the attacker will become disarmed/give up.

 

[Determined2014]

You are right , they should have shot him even in his leg, but who knows ,maybe they were targeting his arm and he moved and the bullet got him else wher, just saying.

 

[bala]

Ah..poor soul..Didnt deserve death surely.They could have shot him in the arm and tied him down.
He was just waving one and had no intention to shoot.
To me,this isn't fair at all,but you can't risk a shot..

 

[Profit5500]

I don't think this man deserved to die but who knows what the internal affairs report would say after the investigation. I don't think the man should have had an airgun in the first place but who knows what was wrong with him. Unfortunately this guy was shot for waving the airgun in front of police and they felt their lives were in danger and shot him.

 

[wulfman]

I mean if you were in that situation only then can you really imagine what the officers had to go through. Sometimes even a shot in the arm does not mean the suspect is incapable of still shooting. In this case it was an air rifle but with all the crazy stuff around nowadays a spree shooting at Walmart is not out of the ordinary. It is a shame he died but officers are trained to inspect the scene and come to a decision.

 

[Rob93FL]

Ah..poor soul..Didnt deserve death surely.They could have shot him in the arm and tied him down.
He was just waving one and had no intention to shoot.
To me,this isn't fair at all,but you can't risk a shot..

Waving the gun at customers, implying that he was pointing the gun at customers, not just waving it around in the air. When someone is pointing a gun at others, you always assume that they're intending to shoot and you act accordingly.

 

[Josie]

This is common. So many lives lost because they dare to threaten officers. They don't deserve to lose their lives for that, as wrong as it is. I agree.. go for a limb or a warning shot or ANYthing, but nobody deserves to lose their lives unless an innocent life is in *immediate* danger. If it's true he was waving it at customers, I'd need to know more. Like why they were still there etc, but I still think he could have been hurt, not killed.

 

[Gelsemium]

I feel that to use deadly force we need to be in a life-threatening situation, but if we reach that conclusion a minute too late we might be dead, so it's a really complicated situation to analyse.

 

[thegrey1]

I think police officers are trained to kill, not necessarily to wound. In any case, how is a cop in that kind of situation supposed to fire off a crack shot that will hit an arm, without maybe missing the perp, and hitting a bystander? The guy definitely wanted to die!

 

[kana_marie]

If they live they can sue you. Same reason if a burglar breaks into your home you are supposed to shoot to kill... so you don't end up having to pay because you injured him. Also, it's an authority thing. "See what we can do? I suggest you start obeying without question... Or you're next"

 

[stevesxs9]

There's always going to be questionable killings when it comes to the Police, however you cannot put yourself in a situation where you leave doubt in a Officer's mind. Because they're going to shoot first for their own protection.

 

[bala]

I too am of the same opinion,because usage of lethal force only makes situation complicated.A Taser could bring down a criminal with a lower end force.
Maybe the cops have really got trained to using it and they are unable to let go of it.

 

[mairj23]

Law Enforcement has always been shady in general. They seem to be trigger happy, especially these days. Out of all the instances that's happen in the past few years involving police officers, they've beat all charges.

 

[FuZyOn]

Police officers are trained to shoot the biggest part of your body, so that being the chest since it's so easy to aim at. They never try to focus on legs or other parts because those shots can be quite tricky and easy to miss.

 

[Profit5500]

Most of the police officers from the looks of it have some sort of military background. There are some officers who do not have a military background so it is likely that when a life-threatening situation would occur that we would know who would shoot first and ask questions later. It is life-threatening when you see another person like 10 feet away from you with a loaded gun it is scary.

 

[Josie]

Makes me sick that someone that could have been helped, lost their lives because the chest is the bigger body part :/

 

[aparsons]

From what I understand, isn't just as easy as shooting someone in the arm. That takes a large amount of skill and there are a lot of variables that go into that situation, especially if the individual was moving. Hitting a moving target with a bullet is much more difficult than it appears in the movies. I would assume that the shot was not done intentionally to kill the man, but I understand the reason for shooting at him.