Thread: Medford police shoot and kill another one.

Knife wielding, apparently disturbed young man. I know, I know about knives and 25 feet.

Police are called to house for domestic disturbance - man with knife. Other occupants vacate before police arrive. Police approach house and man comes out onto porch with knife. According to witnesses, there were lots of police and cars there.

It will be interesting to see if it was necessary for two officers to be close enough to the suspect to need to kill him. He was a disturbed kid, I think 18 years old. If the police were too close and in danger, good shoot.

If they could have stayed back and called for better units...

Time will tell.

OK, OK, I don't know the facts except that MPD is involved in shootings fairly regularly. Maybe it's the nature of the population. I know I carry 24/7, so maybe it was justified.

Link

News Stories like this one are always so shady. A poor poverty stricken youth that society and the schools had given up on and "fell through the cracks," He had NOTHING to do with a gang, of course not, and he was the perfect angel. And yet his family is scared enough to call 911 because he has a knife. But it's because he had severe emotional problems that no one knows about all of a sudden. I call BS.

You play the game you take the chances.. the facts that the occupants called the cops, fled the scene and that he then came out to face cops with a knife in his hand and would not drop it when ordered to do so means to me he was likely a dangerous lunatic and we are better off without him

I have had a crazy neighbor call the cops on me over literally nothing (basically they don't like that I am a block watch captain and not a fellow druggie) and tell them I was a scary gun nut..(they are antis and meth heads) they showed up, we chatted a bit and they realized what was going on and walked away

Edited to add: Although it was well within my rights to be armed when I stepped out to talk, I left all weapons inside

I agree the innocent young boy part may be BS. What I want to know, since 911 knew before the police arrived that the guy was in the house alone with a knife, why did the police have to approach so close? What ever happened to staying back shielded by squad cars and using a bull horn?

Disclaimer: I don't know the whole story and maybe the police did everything by the book and had no choice. If that's the case, good shoot.

Id like to see more police use "less then lethal" force more often. you don't always have to shoot someone in the chest. theres always better ways to handle a situation and that is what they are expected to do. thats what they get paid for and we pay for them to train for. if there was time for people to vacate the area and call 911 then there was time for the police to slow down, take a deep breath, pull their fingers off their triggers and re evaluate the situation.

now if the cop was arresting someone in a alley and their buddy jumped at him with a knife out of no where, by all means, shoot the pos.

i agree but you also have to look at the fact that we only here about the bad ending calls. Im sure there were a million calls to police today and everyday and everyonce in a while you just have to pull the trigger

Originally Posted by auditrevor

Id like to see more police use "less then lethal" force more often. you don't always have to shoot someone in the chest. theres always better ways to handle a situation and that is what they are expected to do. thats what they get paid for and we pay for them to train for. if there was time for people to vacate the area and call 911 then there was time for the police to slow down, take a deep breath, pull their fingers off their triggers and re evaluate the situation.

now if the cop was arresting someone in a alley and their buddy jumped at him with a knife out of no where, by all means, shoot the pos.

yes but every once in a while is turning into every day and that seems to be turning into multiple times a day. Im just saying.

natural selection.......

Looks like maybe should have dropped the knife!!

Maybe a tazer would be in order more often. But if he was ordered to put the knife down and did not comply. It should be a good shoot. It is sad but true.

justified yes, but is it really the right thing to do?

my stepfather has been in law enforcement for 33 years and has since retired. he was always the calm respectful one who would talk someone out of a situation if at all possible when the others were just begging to four point or mase some one if they were acting out in their cell. he could almost always spend a half an hour or so just trying to reason with someone instead of using force. its amazing how much a little bit of compassion and respect will go even when your dealing with unreasonable people.

Originally Posted by auditrevor

yes but every once in a while is turning into every day and that seems to be turning into multiple times a day. Im just saying.

I think in these trying times, more people are trying to commit "suicide by cop" and succeeding. Just saying.

Tonight's paper says the police tried first to tase him but the taser failed. Turns out he was wearing a bullet proof vest. No answer as to how bullets penetrated the vest or what the vest was. Report said bullets hit center mass.

I believe a taser is only good for about 15 feet so they must have been close - close enough for a shoot against a knife.

It also turns out that as a juvenile he was a frequent flier. Four arrests last summer, two for assault, one with charges dropped. He was put in a substance abuse diversion program. Sounds like he liked to pick fights.

Report says he was alone in house and doors were locked. Then he came out on the porch with a "ten inch" knife.

These are just news reports so I can't verify them.

The facts will come out.

The day I can't kick an 18 year old's azz, including one with a big knife, via non-legal means ... just unplug me from the respirator. A night stick, pepper canister, baseball bat, rolling up coat on one arm, et al. No shot to center of mass required.

auditrevor... you are kidding right?

Yeah Ok Noisycow - next time the cops have a problem they should call you right - funny I don't see you stepping up and taking that guy down with just a nightstick.. Since you have probably never been in that
situation - I suspect your bravado is just BS !! Either that or your just an arm chair bad boy !! The fact is never bring a knife to a gun fight !!!

Lots of cops are getting killed now days, guess what? they get nervous about not going home too.

Originally Posted by sr1911fan

Lots of cops are getting killed now days, guess what? they get nervous about not going home too.

That is no excuse. Afraid of being employed in a dangerous job? Afraid so you make bad decisions? FIND ANOTHER JOB!

If I was there and the cops to told me "we are going to shoot and kill this 18 yr old kid that won't put down a knife, but if you want to try and put him down with (aforementioned items)", then YES definitely I would try. Whether you believe that or not I could care a less. Cops are just too happy to kill. I know there is more risk to not kill, but I thought that was part of the job (once).

I remember a bum a few years back that was lying down drunk, too drunk to stand up, with a knife on him that was shot and killed by cops, many, many examples of this crap where just keeping distance would make for a non-life threatening situation.

Seems to me a lot of people have a hard on to kill - cops and non-cops included. I for one, hope I never have to kill. When the economy collapses completely in the near future, I see no mercy or compassion on the horizon.

Originally Posted by Nutty4Guns

I think in these trying times, more people are trying to commit "suicide by cop" and succeeding. Just saying.

There was one of those a few blocks from my work today - youngish man (24, IIRC) with fake gun threatening in the very early morning. Cops shot. He died.