It was not fake, it was a pellet gun. And just a few weeks ago here, a mother was killed when her son shot her in the heart with a pellet gun.
I'd shoot him in the chest, rather than the head.
Split second decision; kid who has taken hostages has gun that looks like a 9mm. He is holed up in a bathroom, and there is no way out. He puts the gun to his head, and then points it at you. The only clean shot you have is to the head. What would you do? Wait? Hope it wasn't real?
Look. I have been at one of these school shootings. I have seen a 14 year old boy kill people in my own school. I was shot at.
It is a very real threat. These kinds of crimes really happen. And they happen in an instant. There is no time to hope this, or maybe that.
The cops were called in to protect all of the children who were NOT pointing a gun at people. And they did that.
There are too many what-ifs in the "don't shoot to kill" scenario.
What if it really was a 9mm, and they shot him in the leg? What if he then starts shooting back, killing a cop?
Terrible situation. I fault the kid, and his parents to some extent, not the cops.
I wasn't faulting the cop for doing what he had to do. I'd have prefered it with the don't shoot to kill method. Second, why didn't anyone think of using a stun gun instead? If they were in a school setting and in close quarters with the assailant, that they'd use stun guns.