Guard hired to protect Portland businesses wasn’t firearm certified when he killed man

[PointyEndOut]

Guard hired to protect Portland businesses wasn’t firearm certified when he killed man

Nelson's death serves as a case study for another notable law enforcement problem the city is grappling with: powerful business interests turning to private security to do the work of police officers, enabling them to wield force against vulnerable Portlanders with a fraction of the oversight.

www.opb.org

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[Alexx1401]

Like so many of these kind of stories the article was impossible for me to comprehend. It goes on forever and jumps around so much I gave up trying to figure out what "facts" they were trying to show if any.

 

[Flopsweat]

Not half a page in we find this gem:

Yet, his death serves as a case study for another notable law enforcement problem the city is grappling with: powerful business interests turning to private security to do the work of police officers, enabling them to wield force against vulnerable Portlanders with a fraction of the oversight.

There is so much wrong with that sentence I don't know where to begin. We all know that guard is going to get destroyed in court. If there's one thing Portland prosecutors hate more than LE, it's armed citizens.

The worker, who asked not to be identified because Lowe's employees are not supposed to speak with reporters, said he came out to the parking lot from inside the store after he heard screaming. He said he made it there in time to hear the guard yell, "If you don't yield to me, I'm going to shoot," followed by multiple shots. He said the interaction he overheard lasted less than a minute.

This does not sound good for the guard.

He said a security patrol car was blocking Nelson's vehicle from leaving, parked horizontally six or seven feet away from Nelson's truck. Kisner said he heard Gimbel warn that he was going to shoot if Nelson moved. He said Nelson's truck moved slightly toward Gimbel, at most three inches, and Gimbel fired.

This is how you get yourself shot, but I still haven't read of any good reason for the guard to have had the gun out in the first place. Placing someone under citizen's arrest is a dicey undertaking at best.

From there on the article just turns into a tribute to ADHD. I stopped trying to follow where they were going with it.