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.
Most hollow point ammo disintegrates when shot into the ground. There might be some minor splatter. But I agree you don’t fire a warning shot unless your out in the woods or such.
I worked in one of the largest retail stores in the world in the 70’s. We were told to fire a warning shot in the back of the perp’s head.
I assumed they were kidding.
Getting shot at wouldn't motivate me to stop running!