You're in your home at 2:30 am, safe, minding your own business, and you hear a noise outside.
What is your first thought? It might be the police?
What is your first reaction regarding your own self-protection? Assume there's no threat or do you grab your gun to protect yourself?
Within seconds of hearing the noise and picking up your gun you see someone outside your window.
Again, what do you do? Assume it's the police and put your gun down?
Then you hear someone yell a command at you and before you can even react, assuming you heard the command clearly in the first place and recognize it's a police officer, the police officer starts shooting.
Most FRs recognize and defend the Castle Doctrine. That's what we have here.
The home owner heard a noise and reacted in her own self-defense to pick up her gun for self-protection.
I'm not accusing the officer of murder but his actions put both the homeowner and the police officers' lives in danger.
Other than an open door, what proof did the officer see that he believed a crime had been committed? Was there a trail of blood? Did they hear someone screaming for help?
The next time you're in your home at 2:30 am and you hear a noise and see someone outside your window are you going to assume it's a police officer?
You make good and valid points about the homeowner.
I would also add the need for situational awareness. Poor Auntie had none. She’d have been better off without a hand gun. She should have known better than to leave all the doors and windows in her house open in a bad neighborhood. Should have known better than to rush into a dangerous situation.
“I’m not accusing the officer of murder but his actions put both the homeowner and the police officers’ lives in danger.”
So did hers.
The next time you’re in your home at 2:30 am and you hear a noise and see someone outside your window are you going to assume it’s a police officer?
= = =
At night, I probably can see only darkness outside my window.
No idea of who or where or how many.
I am silhouetted to anyone viewing from outside.
Can I ‘hide’ or turn off the lights? Shine a light of my own? Turn on outside spotlights? Do I have time?
From all I know, there are no cops around.
If I pick up a gun - I may frighten a burglar.
If I am inside, and a burglar is outside, I would not expect him to shoot me through the window. He sees my gun, and leaves.
But after this, I am very concerned that showing a gun, visible from outside, will get me shot.