No snake is worth shooting horizontal 9mm rounds without a backstop in a residential neighborhood. Period. I don’t care if the damn thing was a confirmed rattler rattling, you can kill or capture a rattler a dozen ways that do not involve firing bullets horizontally in a residential area. This is a case of snake-aphobia hysterics going unglued at the sight of a snake. I've seen grown men run in terror from a 2 foot rat snake, so I know this stupid irrational fear exists. But that doesn't in any way excuse this idiot cop's negligent homicide of a five year old human boy.
The “GladesGuru” came from a state lawyer, one of the smarmiest of that rather nasty breed, who refused to email me with that screen name. Judgie Poo was not impressed with the state attitude.
“A Pox Upon Them All” was a valid if very old curse which seems most appropriate today.
On the other hand, looking at the decerebrate AgencyPersons in the panther project, sometimes I wonder - as Grandpa said, “In the valley of the blind, the one eyed man is king.”
The sum and substance of this thread seems to be:1.
1. Wait for the entire story (hopefully accurate), not what first is rushed into print or on the air by presstitutes.
2. Never underestimate human stupidity. I assumed, from the story line posted, the officer fired upwards, not horizontally.