Posted on 07/13/2010 3:47:06 AM PDT by marktwain
Edited on 07/13/2010 4:51:40 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
LAS VEGAS -- Las Vegas Metro police on Monday identified the three officers who shot and killed an armed man outside a Costco store in Summerlin.
They are Officer William Mosher, 38, a five-year veteran of the department, Officer Joshua Stark, 28, who has been with the department since September 2008, and Officer Thomas Mendiola, 23, who joined the department in March 2009.
(Excerpt) Read more at fox5vegas.com ...
You've yet to address several post as to why...they have a cast or an arm brace...they are partially paralyzed...there is a shadow over their hands...many reasons...but you have already decided to shoot.
Miscommunication. The cops took the report as being accurate (is my guess) rather than investigating the situation for themselves. A panic ensued. An innocent man was murdered. The only conspiracy may have happened after the fact.
Check out post 199.
Very poor leadership and totally inappropriate training.
There is one element of the story which appears to be grossly underreported.
The newspaper account alleges the Costco store made a public announcement over the loudspeakers for all shoppers to exit the store in the front. Verified by one such shopper who had been in the rear of the store near the Meat Counter, who ended up very close to the shooting and had dived on his grandbaby to protect him/her. Said grandparent was upset they had been redirected out of the store, when they would have been safer deep in the store than everybody adjacent the alleged gunholder as they exited the store.
In my mind, whatever transpired to give the Costco staff cause to close the store and direct people out of the store has bearing on the situation, especially with LEOs waiting for a suspect who appears of good report.
I completely agree.
Have either of you ever had a sit down talk with your city manager or mayor? You’d get your questions answered quite rapidly if you chose to do so.
From comments and this version is very credible to me——>>
RobertL [Moderator] 2 days ago
I just found on that this WAS my cousin who was shot! He was a West Point Graduate, never been in trouble, was an officer in the Army, and had a concealed weapons permit in Nevada. The story I’ve heard from friends of his girlfriend have told us that a store clerk saw that he had a concealed gun, told him he couldn’t have it in the store. He replied, “sure I can I have a concealed weapons permit”. The clerk apparently overreacted and called the police that he was some kind of crazy person which ended up in over hyped police that shot him while he was trying to comply by taking his gun out of his shirt to place on the ground as they asked as he was leaving the store. Please anyone who was at the scene and witnessed any of this tragedy please contact me at robert@lavelock.com we may need your help.
A bad short order cook might put too much mustard on your burger.
A bad bank teller might shortchange you $20.
Cops are empowered with deadly force, and need to be held to a more rigorous standard, not a lower one.
Nice in theory, but in my experience cops want immediate compliance, not backtalk.
We need fewer cops on taxpayer dole and more citizens carrying.
That is how I see it.
>Totally agree with your logic in that post.
Thank you!
{I’m a programmer, so that complement is akin to you shouting “you’re competent!”}
Me: Exit the vehicle slowly with your hands emtpy and visible.
You: I can’t do that because I am partially paralyzed.
At this point I move up closer and tell you to again exit the vehicle, get on your knees with your “good arm” up. I would move up on you and immediately take hold of your paralyzed arm in order to ascertain that you are in fact unarmed.
There are exceptions to almost everything in life.
I would be suing the living daylights out of COSTCO if that report is accurate.
Which study was that? The one that pointed out that "less than half of 1 percent of an estimated 44 million people who had face-to-face contact with a police officer were threatened with or actually experienced force." OR perhaps you meant this "DOJ Study: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/ccpuf.pdf"
Oh no, you couldn't have meant that one either, because it doesn't say anything close to the paranoid delusion that you keep rambling.
It seems like some people in this thread conveniently missed some witness accounts. I wonder why that is...
http://www.lvrj.com/news/man-did-not-pull-gun-on-police-at-costco—lawyer-says-98279344.html
Pair corroborate elements of official account of man’s death
But the 72-year-old man, in addition to another witness reached Monday, said they did see the weapon and did see Scott reach for it.
Police have said that Scott drew a pistol and pointed it at officers after they ordered him to raise his hands and lie on the ground. Both witnesses gave their accounts to homicide investigators, they said.
The 72-year-old man heard police say, “Get on the ground. Get on the ground.” He saw Scott facing the officers, who were between Scott and the store entrance.
The man said he saw Scott reach with his right hand and pull out what appeared to be a gun in a zippered holster. He recognized the holster, he said, because he has one like it. Officers then fired, and the man saw the gun fall out of Scott’s hand. The witness did not see Scott point the gun at officers.
“I feel sorry for the guy, but he just made a dumb move,” the 72-year-old man said.
The second witness, who also spoke on the condition that his name not be used, was standing near the entrance when he said he heard police shout, “Get down on the ground. Get down now.”
He turned to see why police were yelling, he said, and saw Scott reaching for what appeared to be a pistol in his waistband. The witness said he recognized the butt of the gun and immediately turned toward his wife and covered her as they dove to the ground.
“He was definitely reaching for the gun,” the man said.
The witness turned away before he could see whether Scott fully removed the weapon from his waistband and didn’t see the shooting. He said it did not appear that Scott was trying to “quick-draw” the weapon on the officers.
He heard gunshots soon after. The witness said he has been struggling with how the incident unfolded.
“It’s so totally bizarre to me” that the man would grab the weapon in front of the officers, the witness said.
He added that he doesn’t believe the man deserved to die for his actions, as he has heard other people say. But he said he does believe the officers were justified in their response.
The stop was made at night in a dimly lit rural area.
That's why they have these fancy newfangled inventions called flashlights. And the point is you never even established he was armed, despite saying very explicitly that you would have killed him before establishing that if he had any unnamed item in his hand.
“So instead of whining about the purported “risks” of your job be thankful for what it gives you. The rest of us don’t get to enjoy the privileges you do.”
I respectfully acknowledge the validity of your point about the advantages that cops enjoy, but I think it’s only fair to consider the risks that they must (unlike the general public) endure on a routine basis. For example, cops must frequently deal with domestic disputes, which can be very unpredictable, and can quickly get very ugly and dangerous. Near where I live, we recently saw this in Lancaster Texas, where, last month, David Brown Jr. (who happened to be the son of the Dallas Police Chief), fatally shot one bystander, then fatally shot an officer arriving at the scene. The officer had all of the advantages you listed, but this wasn’t enough to save him. Fortunately, other officers shot the suspect to death before he was able to kill anyone else.
I thought CCW was illegal in Las Vegas? That is what I was told here in AZ. Also, I believe Costco has a no firearms policy in their stores - my local Costco has a sign posted at their entrance. Whether you agree with it or not, you have to abide by their policy when on private property.
This story is very disturbing.
And it is the civilian eyewitnesses whose stories have the ring of truth, in my opinion.
This fine young man was murdered, I believe.
I anxiously await further facts, including the availability of the store video tape.
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