Texas teen shooting: parents demand answers

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ ^

[jakerobins]

The parents of a school pupil who was fatally shot by US police inside his South Texas school are demanding to know why officers took lethal action, but police said the boy was brandishing – and refused to drop – what appeared to be a handgun

[knarf]

Dear Mr and Mrs parents of the dead kid,

What did YOU do to make your son want to die?

Sincerely

The Cops

[RightOnTheBorder]

I have yet to enter a school that does not have security cameras in every hallway. If this was a good shoot I’m sure the video will be seen. If the video is “misplaced” then the family will be right to sue.

That said, everything reported leads me to believe that this kid committed suicide by cop.

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[Little Ray]

Easy explanation.
Don’t take realistic looking pellet guns to school (they’re forbidden anyway), don’t assault a classmate, and don’t point them or “brandish” them at the police.
Cops don’t have guns to protect us - they have them to protect themselves. And they’ll use them.

[bamagirl1944]

As a step-parent of a 38 year old who was shot in the head with a pellet gun when he was 7 and is paying the price because he is brain-damaged and can’t live a normal life, I say the police had no choice.

[Clara Lou]

What’s your point?

In Texas, both parents and students sign documents saying that they acknowledge being informed that schools are, among other things, weapons-free zones. I’m retiring from 20 years in Texas public middle school teaching. This boy couldn’t help but know that he could not get away with what he was doing. This is going to go a long way in convincing other Texas middle- schoolers not to try the same thing.

Condolences to the parents, but perhaps they needed to teach their son a bit more about actions and consequences.

[TheThirdRuffian]

He had a pellet gun that look 100% like a 9mm.

He got three shots from 2 officers.

Me, I would have emptied my magazine into the little delinquent.

The “answer” is the parents did a really crappy job and raised a delinquent who pretty much deserved to die.

[sevinufnine]

I believe, based on other blogs I’ve read, this was absolutely suicide by cop. One poster who had access to this kid’s facebook page noted a July 2011 post where he was ranting about someone “leaving him” and being angry. Then he stated he would “make them kill me”.

Here’s my question, WHY did not of his facebook “friends” intervene? That’s crazy talk and sadly often carried out these days when kids make such statements.

Also...WTH is a 15 yr old doing in 8th grade? My kids were in 10th grade that age!

[sevinufnine]

“As a step-parent of a 38 year old who was shot in the head with a pellet gun when he was 7 and is paying the price because he is brain-damaged and can’t live a normal life, I say the police had no choice.”

I have a pellet rifle I use to kill those damn starlings that won’t stay off my suet feeders. Hate those birds! Anyhow...yeah...even at 20+ feet away that pellet knocks the bird off the feeder and makes it bleed pretty much for a bird I suppose.

Pellet gun or not, seriously that kid could have at least put someone’s eye out...or shoot them in the temple and then what???!!!

[Cowgirl of Justice]

I am so, so very sorry for you and your family.

That being said, I appreciate your post as there are some posters who feel that the pellet gun DIDN’T REPRESENT THE THREAT THAT ENDED THE YOUNG MAN’S LIFE.

I thank you for your post. I am sure the policemen’s familys would also appreciate you letting people know the pellet gun isn’t a harmless toy- WHICH SOME POSTERS OBVIOUSLY THINK.

[TheThirdRuffian]

“As a step-parent of a 38 year old who was shot in the head with a pellet gun when he was 7 and is paying the price because he is brain-damaged and can’t live a normal life, I say the police had no choice.”

Yep, I use a similar CO2 pistol to shoot squirrels out of my tree. The .177 pellet will go right through a squirrel if I don’t aim at the skull.

A headshot to a child would lodge the pelled somewhere in the middle of the brain.

They are not remotely toys.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

Good informative post, thanks. And I agree - kids can’t even pretend to be holding a gun without getting into trouble in school. This 15 year old also had to have been held back in school a time or two so maybe there were more problems than just his decision to take a gun to school

[Cicero]

Plus this:

“Shortly before the confrontation, Jaime had walked into a classroom and punched a boy in the nose for no apparent reason, Rodriguez said.”

This kid had clearly gone off the rails. Maybe the other boy had bullied him earlier. In that case, you catch him walking home from school and punch him, you don’t walk into a classroom and do it in front of a teacher and a classroom full of students.

[cincinnati65]

Gee, I wonder who either bought him the pellet gun, or allowed him to have the pellet gun????

[from occupied ga]

Texas teen shooting: parents demand answers

I got their answer: Your moronic thug wannabe kid brought a real looking gun to school and when challenged by police didn't drop it (or maybe he did who knows), but he was looking to cause trouble or he wouldn't have brought the realistic gun to school and wouldn't have punched the other kid earlier. At any rate he found what he was looking for.

If you want to act like a thug and play with the big boys who have real guns then you should expect to get shot. I don't think this moron intentionally committed suicide. I think he was too stupid and too full of false self-esteem to consider the consequences of his actions.

[starlifter]

Their kid is dead. But you are an ass.

[jakerobins]

I’m not sure every cop carries Non-Lethal weapons. These were probably just your average beat cops not swat with bodyarmor or rubber bullets and CS gas grenades. They saw a threat with what was to be believed to be a pistol and took him down....You shoot to take people out not give them a chance to return fire..Head shot or Center mast in the chest.

[Bon mots]

The kid was violent and died violently. They raised him that way and want to blame others...

He punched another boy in the face just prior to this.
The student brought a weapon to school... the other boys and girls brought books and pencils...

Now they want answers as to why their vicious diptard thug got shot when he was beating people and waving guns around in school.

I am not upset about this one, sorry.

[Adder]

Exactly: where is the video?

The stalags...er schools insisted these surveillance cameras were for the students own good [I understand this particular school had them] So where is the video. Its either a righteous shoot or its not.

[Hoosier Catholic Momma]

Also...WTH is a 15 yr old doing in 8th grade? My kids were in 10th grade that age! My daughter will be 15 when she starts ninth grade (she is 13 and in 7th grade now). She repeated second grade, but is today an honor roll student whose favorite subjects are math and science. On the bright side, she'll be one of the few sophomores with a driver's license the first day of school :) My younger cousin repeated one of the early grades (can't remember which). Today he is a well-adjusted married 30-year-old father of four who teaches high school. Our youngest, who just turned 4, won't start kindergarten until the month before his 6th birthday, due to the cutoff date. Obviously there was something wrong with this kid in the story, which may explain why he was older than most 8th grade students. Just noting that not all kids who are a bit older than the norm are mentally or socially messed up.