“He also said he only observed Scott’s behavior for about 30 seconds between the time Scott was pointed out to him and shots were fired.”
The audio & time line given at the inquest say Mosher was wrong. Of course, he was wrong about a lot that day. Wrong about what gun Scott had. Wrong about the holster. Wrong about being able to shoot in the holster. Wrong about the gun caliber. Wrong about what he said to Scott. And very wrong about how long it took for him to decide to kill Scott...
“With the details we had and the fact that he had a weapon, that’s not really the time to talk,” Mosher said.”
Except the scene Mosher SAW was different from what he had been told to expect. Cops are expected to deal with what is, not with what they heard before arriving. Which is why I think either Costco or their employees may well be found to have liability...
When Scott saw Mosher at the door, he took the initiative to disarm himself. Mosher testified that Scott told him "I have a gun." In a normal situation that's the proper thing for a CCW holder to do, for instance, at a traffic stop, although I think Scott should have said, "I have a CCW and I'm armed." It's much less threatening.
I believe Scott then lifted his shirt to show that he was armed, and then began to reach for his holster and gun. Up to this point, I don't believe Mosher had issued any commands. But when Scott started to bring the gun and holster out, Mosher became alarmed and issued all the commands in less than two seconds and fired his weapon as Scott moved his gun toward him.
from curlys own mouth...he wasnt interested in talkin, he wanted to beatdown a citizen on a costco employees word...
he was amped and with the timeline, even if i give him the 30 seconds in the benefit of the doubt, he was shooting somebody if they didnt do what he said, regardless of innocence...