What a tragedy!
I think the best takeaway from this is the old saw about never pointing a gun at anything you don’t intend to kill. An extension would be not to unnecessarily insert yourself into a situation where an armed confrontation might result.
IOW, even if you have a gun it’s not always a good idea to go looking for trouble. In some circumstances, such as this one, especially if you have a gun.
I find the notion that “they identified themselves as police” problematic as a justification. It’s dark, uniforms can’t be seen, and armed men are yelling at you. Possibly you don’t have your hearing aid in. In all likelihood they pointed their flashlights at him and blinded him. It is not at all unreasonable for you to react by pointing your gun at the shouters.
Unfortunately, once you do point your gun at them (if that’s what really happened) it’s entirely reasonable for the cops to shoot first.
The absolute need to shoot first in a confrontation at close range means the chance of tragedy goes WAY up when both sides are armed.
I think the cops in this case should be charged with whatever the homeowner would have been charged with had he shot one or both of them.
Horse-Crap! The police were in this man’s home illegally. They crept in, in the dark. The fact that they have badges does not give them an absolute need, or right, to shoot first.