I think back in the ‘70s the controversy was if the officer fired a warning shot before pumping lead into someone’s back who was running away, armed or not. If they did, then it was fine.
The warning shot was bad - because people completely uninvolved in the incident ended up dying from them.
Fire one in the air? No idea where it comes down.
Fire one over the perp’s head? Whoops, hope nobody was downrange.
Fire one into the ground? Whoops, ricochet and someone in the area is now down on the ground bleeding.
Really damn stupid.
HALT!.......>BANG!<.........OR I’LL SHOOT!.........................