Woman Handing Out Samples at Va. Costco Shot by Police After Acting Strangely

NBC Washington ^ | 5/29/13 | Mila Mimica |

[jimbo123]

A woman handing out pizza samples at a Virginia Costco was shot and killed by sheriff's deputies Wednesday afternoon after she began acting strangely and came at the officers with a weapon, authorities said.

A sheriff's deputy also was wounded in the leg, possibly by a ricochet. He is expected to recover.

The melee began at about 3 p.m., when store employees noticed the woman acting oddly at the Costco in Sterling, Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman said. Witnesses said she seemed upset about the pizza she was handing out.

[Drago]

What is it with Costco and overzealous cops? (Erik Scott - Las Vegas 2011)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2558197/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2719718/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2552791/posts

[Secret Agent Man]

wonder if she was diabetic and her blopd sugar got too low. people start acting real disconnected and goofy when blood sugar drops a lot or gets very high.

[SkyDancer]

Chewed a sample into a shape of a gun. Did she have a dog?

[Irenic]

Listening to the Extortion 17 presser.

49:50 to about 50:20. It is much better if you listen to her from 47:28 on...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rqtJrJ40Cio#!

[Lera]

Some come in stealth designs.

I should not admit this but I have one of those
Best pizza cutter I have ever owned

[Sarah Barracuda]

BAN PIZZA..if it can save one Costco employee its worth it/sarc

[wrencher]

Thank the lawyers, personal judgement and non-conformance to procedure is a punishable offense. All that matters is ensuring deadly force can be justified.

[Cvengr]

They probably didn’t have to shoot her, but I think I’ll pass on the Meat Lover’s Delight for a few months.

[supremedoctrine]

I guess the police protocol is if your stun gun doesn’t work, shoot to kill. Idiots.

[21twelve]

I can NOT STAND THE FREE SAMPLE LADIES!!! (But - neither would I want one shot.)

The idiots that park their carts in the middle of the aisle with their tunnel vision on the free sample of cheese on a cracker. Then off to get a paper cup of juice, with their kids running back and forth. Perhaps when the flu epidemic hits they will all be taken out first.

[Darteaus94025]

Hmmm. Maybe she McGivered ninja stars from the pizza slices?

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

How about I hold he knife and you try to handcuff me....then we will see how easy it is. I will make it easy on you..I will only use my left hand......

[wrencher]

She should have kept a couple of decoy dogs in her bag.

[JSteff]

I don’t think they should use their body to stop crazy people with knives.

If pepper spray will take down/stop a 880 lb polar bear (has NEVER failed yet) it certailnly would take down a woman of any weight. LEO's need to think of the least amount of force they need in an incident like this.

Then again, there is the LEO "piling on effect". They all had their guns so when they hear one go off they all need to pull the trigger....obviously played video games way too much back at the cop lounge.

[tomkat]

             

[flamberge]

This is the most sensible statement on the thread. it’s not about whether they could shoot her, it’s about whether they should have.

Unfortunately that is simply wishful thinking. And it is wrong.

A knife is just as deadly as a gun at distances of up to 20 feet or so. A charging attacker can close and inflict a fatal wound in less than one second - even while being shot.

There are a surprisingly large number of such killings that have been recorded on video, and cops see those videos as a regular part of their training. It tends to make them very fast on the trigger.

Cops are generally trained to fire on a knife-wielding assailant at the first sign of forward movement. It should not be a surprise when they do.

[arderkrag]

Yadda yadda only tool is a hammer... you know the rest. Can’t say for sure what I would have done, but instinct would tell even me, a civilian, to shoot first.

[roadcat]

I think you are underestimating how dangerous a knife can be. If this is what happened, the cop had every right to shoot her dead before she got close enough to be able to do any damage, sad as it is to have to do this to someone who might not have been able to help being mad.

A right? Eight cops, they can't surround her and contain her until she is disarmed? Cops are so stupid they shoot to kill, rather than back away, or use night sticks or other tools to fend her off? Absolutely no common sense on the part of the cops. Eight of them, and they can't knock her down. Unbelieveable!

[1010RD]

I thought it was a starship brought down by a blast from a chromer.

[Doctor 2Brains]

You try that sometime... Even if what you say is true, you will be in the slammer in 10 seconds and the pigs will all testify against you.