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Cherry, officers are taught to shoot to kill because you don’t shoot at all unless it’s a life or death situation.

You shoot for the torso because it is the largest body mass. It is vitally important that early shots hit and subdue the assailant. If you miss and the guy gets a shot off, you or your partner may wind up dead. Then you carry that with you the rest of your life.

Shooting to wing an assailant or knock the gun out of their hand is a Hollywood misnomer. Think about the target area of a hand or arm, vs the chest area. It would be very difficult to hit a moving hand/arm.

The police and the military never shoot to wing or disarm. They shoot to kill, because they deem there to be a life or death situation.

Granted, in a case like this one, if you over-react, you can kill someone who wasn’t a threat.

This officer has been charged, and will stand trial. She’ll be able to make her case. The DA will try to make his.

That’s as it should be. I am sorry this guy wound up dead at the officer’s hand, if she was out of line.

It sounds like they are following a good course of action. There seems to be a pretty good reason to challenge her actions.

The guy was going back to his vehicle. There is a blood-curdling dash-cam video of that happening in another older incident and the guy pulls out a carbine and kills the cop. People act like the guy wasn't doing anything wrong. If he would have remained in place and followed the direction of the cops, he' still be alive.

Did the cop do a bad shoot? That's what trials are for. But IMO the dude's actions gave her ample reason to be jacked up. And bad things can happen when someone pointing a gun gets jacked up.