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http://www.8newsnow.com/global/story.asp?s=12785291

My husband and I were witnesses of this tragedy at Costco and we also believe the police did not handle this situation correctly; however we must as citizens look at the entire chain of events. A Costco employee very possibly “someone who is fearful of guns” started a chain reaction of events. It’s like yelling fire in a crowded room, panic then sets in. I believe that retailers and the people living in this state should be aware that citizens are allowed to carry a gun with a proper permit, and the site of one should not set them in a panic. Stores such as Costco should train their employees that, and should train them proper reporting of possible problems. They should quietly move people in the immediate area of a problem away. Instead they created a panic situation that when the police arrived looked much worse than it was. These officers adrenaline had to really be flowing. To make statements that they purposely murdered this man is ridiculous. Mistakes were made, but I would ask all of you to how it would be to live in a world without police protection. (One on Erick’s friends stated that Erick had respect for law and order and for Metro itself.) I would hope that we as human beings will work towards implementing proper training for civilians and police officers to keep a tragedy like this from happening again. It is a true tragedy for Erick, his family and friends.

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Although I was not at Costco yesterday, from the reports I have been receiving, it sounds as though an employee at Costco severely overreacted. It sounds as though a simple call to the police to report "A man who has a gun in a holster around his waist and states he has a CCW, which we do not allow at Costco, is not leaving when asked by the management" was taken to Def Con 5, complete with silent alarms and "bomb scare" evacuations. This set up a scene, where the police may have felt they needed to use more force than was necessary, based on the story they were told before they encountered him outside. This initial overreaction by Costco is most likely what cost him his life. He was probably caught off-guard and freaked out with all those guns pulled on him. Instead of putting his hands on his head, he probably made the split-second mistake of lifting up his shirt to show the cops his gun so they could take it away, or maybe to try to disarm himself, for which he lost his life.

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I couldn't agree with you more....My wife and I were 7 or 8 feet away from the shooting as were the police. We were to the suspects immediate right. We heard and saw the 3 police officers shouting to the man in question to 'get on your knees' several times. At that point the man appeared somewhat stunned by the commotion and shouting of the police. His Right arm went up in a defenseless position and it appeared his left arm appeared to be going up but there was NO gun in his hand. He was taserd and shot at the same time. At no time did the man in question ever raise his voice, shout an obscenity or become confrontational with the police. We saw the disabled man stooping to his right facing us with what appeared to be a bullet wound in his upper chest with blood coming from the wound and immediately his eyes became glossy as he began to convulse. At this point he was no threat to anyone, both hands were in full view of us and there was no gun. As he was down, the police continued to shout 'put the gun down' several times...but there was no gun in his hand as we had full vantage point view. The injured man was having agonal respirations, he was down when the second volly of bullets rang out. There was no doubt in question that following the second barrage of bullets the man was dead. His girlfriend was to the back side of us and began to scream.....why did you kill him, he is a military man with a license to carry a concealed weapon. You didn't need to kill him....you didn't need to kill him.

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It wouldn't shock me at all if the investigation determines that one officer ordered Scott to disarm while the other officers shot him as he attempted to disarm, thinking that he was going to shoot at them. It is quite possible Erik could have been attempting to comply with police order and that the other officers didn't hear the orders in the confusion. In that case, it would have been a tragic error on the part of the police due to poor communication and training. I suppose that's just one of many possibilities.

My only hope is that all of the officers in the investigation answer the questions they're asked honestly.

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