No, I hadn’t, I didn’t feel strongly one way or the other about the officer. I was just taken aback by the size of the boy and thought that he probably looked like an adult who had a real gun.
If it happened as you say then I hope that justice prevails and the officer is found guilty and given the maximum sentence.
Although the callers to 911 said they thought it might be a toy, the 911 dispatch did not mention that to the cops. Just reports of a person with a gun.
So the cops are rolling up with that in their mind - a real gun.
Right after the shooting one of the cops radios in for an ambulance, and says the guy down is about 20-years old.
I think the eye sees what the brain is prepared for it to see (a man with a gun). Plus - if the child is on the big size...
But it does seem that everything happened pretty quickly when it perhaps didn’t need to. That - and better thinking and training by everyone. (The idiot kid. The 911 dispatcher not relaying the attitude of the caller that it was probably a toy), and maybe the cops coming up slowler and assess the situation first and seeing that the guy wasn’t in an active shooting.
Heck, it could have been some guy with a legal concealed weapon that “showed”, some nanny-state liberal sees it and freaks out and calls 911. And makes up a story. I think there is a group that is doing that - making up wild stories about a legal carrier “waving around his gun and yelling” to get them in trouble.
Then you get two cops, one yelling “hands up” and the other yelling “drop the gun”. (Note - if your gun is on your hip - I would just stick with the “hands up” position and hope for the best.)