Posted on 04/14/2021 11:22:17 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A Maryland State Police trooper responding to a pair of 911 calls shot and killed a teenager who was pointing what investigators determined was an airsoft gun at him, authorities said Tuesday.
The shooting occurred after state police received two 911 calls about someone acting suspicious, Superintendent Woodrow Jones II told a news conference. The first caller said he thought the person had a gun, left a telephone number but didn't give an address before hanging up, Jones said.
A second caller gave a street address for the suspicious person that was a short distance from the Leonardtown barracks, but the caller hung up before identifying themselves, Jones said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I don’t know what an air soft gun is but how’s the trooper supposed to know the difference from a distance?
Exactly.
Trooper will carry a ton of guilt the rest of his/her life...and that’s after the Internal Affairs investigation and civil suit.
D@mn.
Thank goodness they made it a point to tell us they were both white so no harm, no foul. Why they even bothered to write an article on this I’ll never know. -sarc
I can’t even imagine pointing any kind of what looks like a gun at a policeman. It seems things to follow won’t be good and why would you do that anyway? Those guys are on a job out there to protect the public.
I really think if you do that, and then this kid pulled a knife out besides, well, see ya.
When someone points a gun at you it would be ridiculous to assume it is anything but a firearm. Especially if you have a job where people are more likely to try to shoot you.
Maryland (Freak State) ping!
Some of them are so realistic that you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference at 10 feet.
“I don’t know what an air soft gun is but how’s the trooper supposed to know the difference from a distance?”
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I thought that years ago they started making them put fluorescent orange “tips” on the replica airlifts. Kinda strange story. I wonder if the kid was doxed and/or set up,
BLM and a legion of politicians are hoping LEOs make that fatal hesitation.
Sewer scum.
Or maybe the kid had used spray paint...
“Or maybe the kid had used spray paint...”
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That’s true. Leave it up to a kid to do something stupid like that.
A young girl around my parts did just that a few years back
Cop shop only a block away and she pulls out an airsoft at a convenience store and points it at cop as he comes in the door
Suicide by cop
Fortunately, the girls doctor mother and her wife didn’t blame the cop
But he still killed a disturbed kid and has to live that
“The trooper fired at the male, wounding him,” Jones said. According to another witness, Ham then pulled out a knife and tried to get up. “The trooper ordered him to drop the knife before he fired again,”
So the wounded teenager is on the ground trying to get up? The trooper ordered him to drop the knife before he fired again?
I can't explain why a kid would point an airsoft gun at a cop and expect not to get shot but the kid was on the ground trying to get up and the officer finishes him off with a second shot?
Did the trooper order him to drop the gun before the first shot? How long did he wait before firing?
And of course no camera captured this incident.
"The superintendent" said a witness saw the kid pointing the gun at the trooper. This witness definitely needs a name and that needs to be a sworn statement.
Sorry but once again this whole story has an odor to it. It may be an appropriate use of lethal force but there are some serious questions here. Was the kid in his own driveway? Where are the parents in this case?
I don't know what happened here but this thing stinks to high heaven. First, there are bullet holes all over the place. It sounds like the trooper fired 15 rounds minimum according to witnesses and tv reports showing evidence tags of shell casings numbering a dozen plus. That tells me this cop saw a gun and just lost it or is horribly trained.
This trooper just unloaded on this kid and that defies the implied explanation of events. The police spokesman did not say anything about the interaction before the Trooper fired the first shots. Did he order the kid to drop the gun? Suicide by cop seems to be the only legitimate explaination for this but I have serious doubts about that.
The family is weirdly mild in their statements offering no pleas for answers as to what happened and no possible explanation for why the kid might point a pistol at a cop.
This whole thing is very weird.
The perpetrator was white, so no riots in Maryland over this.
More info below. It’s a strange story. Maybe he committed suicide by cop. Or maybe he wasn’t even pointing his airsoft gun at anyone.
Whatever the case, a family is left heartbroken with many questions. Maybe video will be found that answers some of them.
Very sad. Teenagers should be trained to avoid pointing weapon replicas at anyone unaware of the harmlessness of the item. Many real firearms come in pretty colors now, especially pistols made in various colors to match clothing for concealed carry.
A replica firearm that shoots a plastic BB that is 3-4mm in diameter. Can be very difficult to tell the difference from a real firearm.
Back when my son was playing with them I strongly told him to keep them cased until he got to the playing field.
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