“Making a threatening gesture” is not necessary. All that is necessary is that the officer say, “I felt threatened.” Facts are of no import, actual perceptions are of no relevance. The only important thing is the formula statement, “I felt threatened.” That absolutely excuses a policeman for killing any one or number number of adults, dogs, infants or whoever else he chooses to kill. As the population comes to understand this more and more, it will become increasingly dangerous for a policeman to have any interactions at all with citizens, dangerous for the citizens, of course, but also dangerous for the cop as citizens come to understand that if a cop cuts his eyes at someone that someone stands a good chance of being shot out of hand, summarily executed as it were. Occasionally a person will simply draw his own weapon and shoot when a cop focuses his attention on him. That will escalate the police propensity to shoot which will intensify the fear and violent reaction of Joe Blow and Jane Blow. At some point the spiral will become pretty radical.
I did not know that. Does that mean that if I want to shoot someone all I have to say is I felt threatened? < /sarcasm>