But, but, but, I thought tear gas couldn't start fires, at least that's what was said about the fire at Waco that killed all those Branch Davidians.
This cretin had no intention of being taken alive. Seems to me that he had an option of coming out, one way or another, and he choose to come out horizontally.
ie., the perp killed a well-known and liked officer when the officer responded to a tresspass call, that the perp took the officer's pistol and radio, that the perp acknowledged killing the officer and that the perp opened fire on officers who came to this residence where he had hidden...then for me, all of that adds up to an individual who, as Judge Roy Bean of Texas would have said...needed killin'
Sorry the house burned down around him in the course of it all...but I do not see anything in this story that indicates improper actions by the deputies and authorities involved.
If there's more information, let me know...but this looks like a murderer who got the justice he deserved...and probably more justice than would have been meted out if he had survived this encounter...but I will withhold that final judgement regarding what he might have gotten had he not forced the issue to this conclusion, until when and if more facts about the case are available.
It seems standard that, when the cops want to burn down a house with everyone in it, they use tear gas to do the job. Tear gas (Chlorobenzylidene malononitrile, or CS ) is highly flammible, and the common pyrotechnic grenade form is not supposed to be used against wood-framed buildings. The Branch Davidians' building also burst into flames shortly after CS was pumped into it.