US police won’t tell me why they shot my son, says mother

The Irish Independent ^ | Friday July 04 2008 | Louise Hogan

[PotatoHeadMick]

I don't know the circumstances here but a young Irishman has been shot by police in the US, from what I can gather he appears to have had some mental problems and for what relevance it is worth he was in the country illegally, but I'd just be interested to find out more info.

[Gaffer]

There is more here than has been reported. Basically, we’re hearing only from the family side, and I’ve been around the block long enough here near Atlanta to know that....

[lexusppd]

I don't know the circumstances here but a young Irishman has been shot by police in the US, from what I can gather he appears to have had some mental problems and for what relevance it is worth he was in the country illegally, but I'd just be interested to find out more info.

You also should have mentioned that it appears he was involved in the burglary to which the police were responding. I highly doubt the police would have shot this man without a reason.

[Pistolshot]

There is more here than has been reported. Basically, we’re hearing only from the family side, and I’ve been around the block long enough here near Atlanta to know that....

Yep, it's a one sided story designed to gather sympathy for the family. Anything the police say now about the circumstances surrounding the shooting will be dismissed as a cover-up.

We don't know the officer's background, whether he has been involved in other confrontations, we don't know if the perp was armed or presumed to be armed or startled the officer to react in this way, or what.

Best to see all the evidence before passing judgement. And the family will not know anything until the investigation is complete.

They will not like the results either way it goes.

[Vor Lady]

My family has lived in and around Silverton for years. Small town with lots of imports. He wasn’t shot because he was Irish.

[Godwin1]

Hmmm.... an illegal whom the family admits had “problems.” Hailing from Dundrum, a Dublin neighborhood known as a rough, high crime area. While it is good to keep an open mind, for now my benefit of the doubt goes to the cop. Something we'll never know—because the timid Irish authorities won't cooperate—is whether this guy had a police record in Ireland.

[jwparkerjr]

It's sad that one of the rules of doing an in depth, fair investigation of a situation requires shutting out the rest of the world while it's going on is the very thing that makes such investigations appear to be an attempt at a cover-up. It's certainly human nature to want to know what happened in a situation like this, especially for the mother of a young man who was shot and killed half-a-world away.

I don't know that these investigations, especially by an internal affairs type group, have any oversight by someone out side the system, but if not it would certainly go a long way in calming such appearances if they did.

I have no reason to question the conclusion of these investigations, but it sure seems to me as though some sort of third-party oversight would help ease the tensions that always accompany them.

[Dumpster Baby]

-snip-

About six months ago, however, the family started to notice some problems with Hanlon's behavior. Though never ultimately was diagnosed with a specific mental illness, Hanlon suffered elements of paranoia and schizophrenia, Heise said.

Heise said Hanlon then began to come into frequent contact with the police. He said all the officers on the force knew him, and knew of his mental health issues. The Heises tried unsuccessfully to get Hanlon into some type of counseling program.

For a time, he was homeless, though they tried to provide him with some financial support and he was able to get an apartment. Still, at one point, Hanlon broke into their home, Heise said -- not for money or possessions, but to use the Internet.

-snip-

http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2008/07/silverton_police_investigating.html

[El Gato]

You also should have mentioned that it appears he was involved in the burglary to which the police were responding. I highly doubt the police would have shot this man without a reason.

He may or may not have been involved with the burglary, he may have acted "wild" when confronted. We may never know, but we should find out a bit more than we have so far.

There is some more information Seatle Post Intelligencer where the young man is described as suffering "from paranoia and delusions" by his brother-in-law.

[SECURE AMERICA]

How about everyone (city, family, media)steps back and gives the process that always occurs after any Police involved shooting gets conducted and proper answers are determined.

[tvdog12345]

Headline: “Cop shoots illegal alien burglar; Europeans whine.” On second thought, neither part of that ought to be news.

[El Gato]

About six months ago, however, the family started to notice some problems with Hanlon's behavior. Though never ultimately was diagnosed with a specific mental illness, Hanlon suffered elements of paranoia and schizophrenia, Heise said.

Could be a drug problem.

[xrmusn]

Heard of a case the other day where a person was waving a gun threatening to shoot himself. The Police held him off for a while then he pointed the gun at the them and they kind of wasted him.
I would venture to say his ORIGINAL intent was carried out, but of course the Police will be vilified.....

[Cicero]

Not enough to go on.

The family itself says that he was having serious mental problems. So I would GUESS either that he had broken into a house (which he apparently had done before to “use the internet”) or that he happened to be in the area by bad luck, was acting strangely, and responded badly when he was given a warning by the police to put up his hands and surrender himself.

All this is pure speculation, but there’s certainly enough information given even by the family’s version of events to give the police the benefit of the doubt until more information is released.

[RightWhale]

my son will be just swept under the carpet

Y'know, this carpet is kind of lumpy. Maybe the padding is bunched up.

[donna]

It only happened on Monday night. They are probably still working the autopsy.

[gubamyster]

ping

[oh8eleven]

Cop shoots illegal alien burglar; Europeans whine.
Deserves repeating.
They also forgot the standard family BS - "He was really a nice guy and was just starting to turn his life around."

[paristwelve]

Because the cop couldn’t understand his accent, so he just shot him. What else?

[spanalot]

was he shot during a burglary?