20 y/o shot for pointing a pellet gun at a cop

[MattInFla]

Think of it as evolution in action.

Stupidity is a terminal disease.

Matt

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[mik]

My prayers go out to the cop.

As for the kid ... sad, but that's about it. Life's tough and it's tougher when you're stupid.

I say remove the warning labels and let nature take it's course. No more interfering with natural selection!

[steve_db]

this is a horrible, tragic, sad story for all involved.

[PatrioticRick]

"Stupid is, as stupid does"

[Black Oak]

Too bad for the cop. Taking a life is no small thing. He did the right thing and got to go home to his family that night.

Unfortunate that the perp had not been taught the rules of gun safety in school. It would have saved his life.

[LenS]

I too feel for the officer, BUT he did what he had to do and I would do the same in the same circumstances!

We were never taught about guns in school, but common sense dictates that you do NOT point guns at others unless you are willing to die for your stupidity!

I have a good friend who is a gunny and now a full time cop. He's had to draw down on two Darwin candidates holding pellet guns (with tips painted black of course) who were stupid enough to draw the gun or point it at this cop. He told me he was pulling the slack out of the trigger of his Sig on them, but they finally put the gun down and avoided being shot. As I told him, if he had had to shoot, it would have been the right thing to do and NOT his fault if he later learns that it wasn't a real gun. My discussion with him was a week or two after these events and he was still haunted by how close he was to taking a life.

[dr_cmg]

The other thing that the MSM and the general public need to learn is that a pellet gun is not a toy. It is a real weapon that fires a real projectile that if properly placed can kill. Airsoft pellets and BBs are not very likely to cause major damage, but .177 and .22 pellets can. Pistols do not have the power the rifles do, but can still hurt you. An example of the power of pellet rifle is my old .22 Crosman pump pellet gun from the 70s. I can put a pellet through a 32 gal. galvanized trash can front to back at 25 yds. with 8 pumps. It's not going to go much farther than through the back side, but the point is that it will penetrate both sides.

Modern pellet pistols can fire a .177 projectile at over 500 fps. Here are links to two. The second one fires at 700 fps.

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=213777

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=213779

[mark555]

Sucide by cop is hard on the cop, too bad he could not have picked a better way.

[falcon1]

I'm sorry the officer is having to go through this. As for the young man, I'm afraid the officer had no other choice...it's a shame the young man didn't learn some lessons regarding how to react to LEOs in the performance of their duties before this final one.

[SixBravo]

Going along with the pellet gun penetration....

Those things can be kinda loud and sometimes produce a little cloud of smoke. Even the low-powered ones. If a cop and had some little darwin candidate draw one and shoot him with it, it wouldn't be far off for the cop to return fire. The minute a gun is drawn, there is no question of whether or not its a pellet gun or a full size Desert Eagle. It is a question of survival. Period.

A pellet gun makes a loud sound and if it hits, they can HURT. And when your adrenaline is pumping, sounds and perceptions can be distorted amazingly. (After a simunition gunfight/ambush, I accused some students of never firing a shot. It turns out they nearly emptied their guns at me but I never heard a single shot except my own.) It sucks that this cop had to go through it, but bully to him for defending himself and others. As stated before, a peace officer should NEVER have to defend himself for the defense of others.

As we all have heard, it is better to be judged by twelve than carried by six.

[Freedz]

Most of the pellet guns anymore - especially the handguns look alot like and are modeled after alot of actual pistols. Even someone who is very familiar with firearms would have a hard time distinguishing one from another at a glance, even harder under low light conditions.

[DaveT]

Gentleman,

As one who has been involved in a suspected 'suicide by cop' shooting, and having ended the subject's life, I can assure you that the incident will stay with the officer for a long time.

All the knowledge in the world that he did what he was trained to do, and the (hopefully) investigation conclusion of "justified shooting" will do little to ease the officer's mind.... only the passage of time will take care of that.

Each situation is different and the resulting thought process is different. What bothered me the most after my shooting was not that the man was dead, that was plain and simple... he shot at me and missed, I returned fire and did not miss. My training and the same survival instinct I learned in Vietnam made my reaction almost automatic. What bothered me was that the man's teenage daughter had been the one to summon police when he threatened to kill her mother; then listening to her sob and scream afterwards that if she had not called the police, her father might still be alive. She will probably blame herself for the rest of her life, that's the really sad part that still bothers me today..... 26 years later.

If you have a mind to pray, offer a few for the officer and his family because this kind of incident is hard on them as well. After the shooting I was involved in, I can remember the grief my wife put up with because of stupid questions and comments made to her by stupid, but 'well meaning' people.

[kikr]

My heart goes out to the officer, I can only hope he doesnt overly suffer for this moron. I remember reading/hearing/seeing somewhere that you are supposed to "treat every gun as if it's loaded", and "never point a gun at anything your not prepared to destroy". On the street a gun is a gun.