I'm not sure it was good work by the police. Not to rip on the police force, but they happened to have stopped the guy on a traffic violation. That's all.
The Police Chief praised the officer because the man killed himself..firing a shot. And the officer was calm enough not to fire back.
He also called backup and followed policy before going up to the vehicle.
I think they did a great job.
The officer observed him sitting in a vehicle near a school in a vehicle with out-of-state plates. He decided it was a bit unusual so he continued his observations, noting the man seemed to be writing something. When the man noticed he was being watched, he started to egress the area and when he did a u-turn, the cop had a reason to pull him over. I'd say this was heads-up work by the officer.