“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.
An officer then came up to the injured man who in my opinion was a ‘dead’ man’, was cuffed with his hands behind his back and no attempt by the officer to determine if the man was alive or dead. No apparent life saving aid was given to the ‘downed’ man. The man was totally lifeless when the Paramedics arrived on scene. I was absolutely surprised to see that no attempt at aggressive ACLS was engaged. They simply just picked up the body like a ‘sack of potatoes’ and hurled him onto the gurney and into the ambulance This was a crime scene.... the crime scene was violated. One of the paramedics who attended to an injured elderly lady said the man was dead. There was a dead man in front of Costco. What nobody is talking about is that there were many many spectators, many like ourselves within just a few feet of the victim when the shots rang out. It seems to me that the greater danger was posed not by the victim but by the police who fired many shots in the vicinity of the innocent public. I agree with you, I hope the media and your friends family can get their hands of Costco's Camera's which will indeed tell the rest of the story. Also it must be confirmed whether the second gun supposedly found by the victims side was indeed also registered to him as a licensed conceal and carry.
This whole incident was a monumental tragedy; a tragedy for the family and friend and also a tragedy for the involved officers who were pushed into a needless confrontation that reached hysterical proportions due to the overreaction of certain employees and bystanders. This was a needless death.
In summary it is our opinion that the victim did not pose an immediate threat to the public.....and in the final analysis was a case of excessive force
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Time to loot Footlocker again.
Oh wait...
I read another acct that witnessed the so-called berserk behavior.
The witness said the guy was trying to see if some sports drinks fit into a backpack he was thinking about purchasing. The employee noticed the gun on his person and confronted him. The only thing the witness heard was, this would not be a problem in TX. The employee walked away and went to another employee and the store was then told to evacuate. The witness said once outside he did see the gun in a holster,the victim he was told different orders by each officer. The witness said he looked to reach for the gun to remove it, not threaten, he never made it to the holster before they shot him.
Claimed witness accounts:
I saw the whole thing go down from start to finish and the cops were trigger happy the guy never had a chance. when this guy exited costco he was looking around for who the cops were yelling at and when he realized he had 4 guns pointed at him he freaked out and was attempting to throw his gun on the ground, the gun was in a holster and one of the cops shot and he dropped the gun and then the other cops decided to finish him off even tho he allready had dropped the gun. There were people all around this guy when they opened fired I think the guy was no danger to anybody he had no idea what was going on like everyone else the cops never game him a chance. These police had every chance to tackle him down because he had no idea what was going on his gun was in a holster and was in his pants attached to his belt but they shoot and ask questions later I personally think these cops need to be held accountable for his death. I seems like you not only need to watch out for the bad guys but the police as well. I bet my life savings he had a concealed weapons permit and he got killed because of it.
I was there, and I never saw this guy do anything with his gun (outsidewhere he was shot). When the policeman yelled, “drop it,” he had to reach for the gun to get it so he could drop it. The police started shooting immediately after “drop it” was yelled. As for the statement that he endangered people inside the store, I have not heard—yet—that he actually brandished or waved his gun around inside the store. I believe people just saw that he had a gun in his waist or holster. Fortunately, the cameras atCostco should eliminate some of the confusion in eyewitness reports.
Here is a post from a first hand witness that I just read about. I believe this person that wrote this over people that are just sitting on their computers and going along with the cops and with other ignorant people.
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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.
An officer then came up to the injured man who in my opinion was a ‘dead’ man’, was cuffed with his hands behind his back and no attempt by the officer to determine if the man was alive or dead. No apparent life saving aid was given to the ‘downed’ man. The man was totally lifeless when the Paramedics arrived on scene. I was absolutely surprised to see that no attempt at aggressive ACLS was engaged. They simply just picked up the body like a ‘sack of potatoes’ and hurled him onto the gurney and into the ambulance This was a crime scene.... the crime scene was violated. One of the paramedics who attended to an injured elderly lady said the man was dead. There was a dead man in front of Costco. What nobody is talking about is that there were many many spectators, many like ourselves within just a few feet of the victim when the shots rang out. It seems to me that the greater danger was posed not by the victim but by the police who fired many shots in the vicinity of the innocent public. I agree with you, I hope the media and your friends family can get their hands of Costco’s Camera’s which will indeed tell the rest of the story. Also it must be confirmed whether the second gun supposedly found by the victims side was indeed also registered to him as a licensed conceal and carry.
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This whole incident was a monumental tragedy; a tragedy for the family and friend and also a tragedy for the involved officers who were pushed into a needless confrontation that reached hysterical proportions due to the overreaction of certain employees and bystanders. This was a needless death.
In summary it is our opinion that the victim did not pose an immediate threat to the public.....and in the final analysis was a case of excessive force”
I was at Costco and saw the shooting. The police officers were outside the exits with guns drawn. A helicopter was overhead. I don’t know what the dead man was doing inside the store. An enormous crowd was coming out of the store because they were evacuating. I was standing about 20 feet from one officer who had his gun out and drawn. Suddenly, he yelled, “Drop it,” and immediately started shooting. Three times. Then two other officers started shooting. I believe each of the other officers shot once. I think there were about five shots. It’s a miracle no one else got hit. This was in the middle of a crowd. Was the shooing justified? I don’t know. I didn’t see the dead man do anything. But I certainly would not feel comfortable wearing a firearm around Metro.
Wow! Me and my wife were in the parking lot and getting ready to walk inside. One cop car at the front door with its lights on. Another customer walks out and says not to go in, someone has a gun in there. We turn around and walk back to our car. We start telling people not to go in. Parking lot was packed. Lots of people start walking out the front door to the parking lot. I drive around the parking lot, being nosy. A police helicopter is hovering above. 2 more cop cars pull into the lot and start to park. I hear 2 gunshots and then less than a second later, another 7-8 shots ring out. I get the hell out of the parking lot. Then here comes tons of cop cars up Charlston to the Costco. Can’t wait to see the news and what happened. I hope no cops and no civilians were injured. Hopefully they killed the idiot with the gun.
me and my mom were at costco today. unbelieveable day. I will not forget today. I glad that me and my mom are alive today. AND everyone else at costco. me and my mom saw the cpos kill the guy right in front of us. we were sitting because we thought we were going to go back in. I thought it was practice fire drill. the cops shot the guy right in front of us. we were so scared. the gun man died at the scene. I can’t believe it!!! i would like to know what the gun man had in his head. was he planning to hurt people or what. I’m glad everyone at coscto is ok. Thank you GOD WE ARE ALL ALIVE!
I sure w
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me and my mom were at costco today. unbelieveable day. I will not forget today. I glad that me and my mom are alive today. AND everyone else at costco. me and my mom saw the cpos kill the guy right in front of us. we were sitting because we thought we were going to go back in. I thought it was practice fire drill. the cops shot the guy right in front of us. we were so scared. the gun man died at the scene. I can’t believe it!!! i would like to know what the gun man had in his head. was he planning to hurt people or what. I’m glad everyone at coscto is ok. Thank you GOD WE ARE ALL ALIVE!
I sure w
No.. I only saw the officer tap him, demand his hands on his head, step back, weapon drawn. Then I saw the guy do something with his right arm.. looked like his elbow was coming up and out.. almost like someone taking his hands out of his pocket or something..from his hip area. It all happened so quick.. that’s when I heard the shots. People screamed and ran. Then I saw at least two other officers, weapons drawn, but I didn’t actually see the shots themselves. A few seconds later I saw the guy on the ground, and other guy to the side of him on the ground. That’s when I moved back, farther into the store.. then they closed the doors.
No.. I only saw the officer tap him, demand his hands on his head, step back, weapon drawn. Then I saw the guy do something with his right arm.. looked like his elbow was coming up and out.. almost like someone taking his hands out of his pocket or something..from his hip area. It all happened so quick.. that’s when I heard the shots. People screamed and ran. Then I saw at least two other officers, weapons drawn, but I didn’t actually see the shots themselves. A few seconds later I saw the guy on the ground, and other guy to the side of him on the ground. That’s when I moved back, farther into the store.. then they closed the doors.
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We were in the back of the store and notified by an employee to evacuate the building. It seemed they were trying to get evryone out of the building as quietly, calmly, and quickly as possible. Shots rang out when we were about 50’ from the building. We got to the car and out of the area as quickly as possible.
The biggest problem seemed to be customers not exiting the area as quicly as possible. Many were congregating at the entrance. Hanging around to see what was going on. Personally I thought if Costco was going to ask customers to leave on a Saturday that it was not a drill and we needed to get out of the way so whatever the problem was could be delt with.
It was chaotic and people were leaving as fast as they could. I’m sure all these comments haven’t been reported. I know my wife, daughter and I got away as fast as we could. My vantage point was exiting the store directly behind the individual. As I approached the exit I saw an officer with a gun drawn but pointed toward the ground (it was then I knew something serious was happening). Just before the individual and I exited, a man in a black shirt (probably a Costco employee) jutted his arm out in front of me and pointed to the individual in question (the man in front of me). The officer asked, “Is that him?” and the person kept pointing at him. The officer immediately raised his weapon and began yelling at the top of his voice at the man to “put your hands up” and “get down on the ground”. He yelled it several times. Contrary to others posted comments, the man knew he was being addressed and turned to face the officer. The rest of us were faced outward out of the building, but he turned and faced him. The officer continued yelling at him to get his hands up and get on the ground. He did not comply. I saw the man’s hands move as if to get something from under his shirt (he was wearing a button down shirt that was not tucked in). I immediately moved to get away, moving to the left of him and the officers along with my wife and daughter. I did not hear him say anything, but the officer continued to yell his commands.
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Then, shots ... first two, a short pause then several more (4-5, I guess). Then they stopped, and I turned to see the man standing for a moment, I then turned away again as an older women in front of me was not moving as fast as I was due to having a walker. I looked back again to see the man face-down on the ground. My family and I ran to get into the parking lot. All of the above happened in a matter of 5-7 seconds. In retrospect, not knowing the man’s intentions and not actually knowing he had a gun, the officers, I believe, acted in the public’s best interest. I witnessed the man face the officers (acknowledging they were addressing him) ignore their commands and make a move to his belt area ( I saw him lift the bottom of his shirt). There were many people still behind in the doorway. If his intentions were to have a firefight, the officers acted first and saved everyone. It was so loud and chaotic in a confined area. I, for one, appreciate their actions.
My husband and I were there with our two daughters. We were walking out from the covered area when the guns started to go off, we ran and hid behind a truck. It was a very scary situation to be in. We should have turned around when we saw the chopper in the sky circling Costco as well as the people telling us to leave.
My mother and I were pulling in the north side of the building and we saw two cop cars, and one got out and had a huge rifle and we heard him from inside of our car screaming at people to get down and we were about 20 yards away from the entrance and people were laying on the ground and running for cover than we herd about 7-8 gunshots.
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Just got home from Costco - watched this unfold from about 30 ft. We were told very quietly (by another customer, not Metro or store employees) to exit the building. We walked past an armed Metro officer on the way out the door who had his gun out and seemed to be checking everyone leaving. We were told nothing. I asked a couple of Costco employees if they knew what happened. They did not and seemed unconcerned. We stood by the front to see if we were going to go back in and retrieve our cart. We heard Metro yell a command and shots (5?) rang out. We ran. We saw, what appeared to be, one male deceased on the ground. Another Costco employee told us, as we were driving away, that there had been someone shooting inside the store by the pharmacy. Apparently the pharmacy girl was locked inside and called police. Don’t know any more. Awful event for everyone. Prayers to everyone.
There were about 50 customers still in the store headed toward the exit when the shooting occurred. I was one of them with my son and mother-in-law in a motorized wheelchair. Imagine the panic and chaos of people running back in from the gunshots and trying to figure out how to get your family out of the way of a shooter or a rushing crowd. They brought down the exit door and we were in by the food court there for about 20 minutes before they led us out the north emergency exit. Nobody told us if it was one shooter or more, if we were safe in the store or stuck in there with another crazy.