Take a look at this image. Would the police be justified in shooting him with a drop gun and almost immediate shot which is what appeared to happen when you listen to the synced 911 tape and the video.
He was shot before he “dove” back (at least based on the synced 911 call - we need the ballistics report to see where he was hit. I think the order was he was shot (two shots are very close together)), his first reaction is to flee from the shots, he goes around the corner and sees the other cop in the other aisle. He then moves back away from the threat encountering the first cop who shot him. He then falls down.
Unless he opened the gun earlier. He was not the one who opened the package with the gun. The video shows him picking it off of a shelf in its unwrapped condition. He looks like he is just killing time talking on the phone, and found a distraction. A little childish, but most people view an air rifle as a toy.
You are right. From his reaction it seems the first time he noticed the police was after he was shot. They are off screen, but he does not turn towards them or point the weapon towards them. He seems to run back towards the weapon after being shot, but they may have been fear (how can you think logically if you had just been shot out of the blue).
Interesting you bring up Nifong. The lacrosse three received millions and did not spend a day in jail. What is 30 years worth? Nifong spent one day in jail. How many days should the police and prosecutor get in prison for 30 years?
You might want to read about the circumstances in which they admitted doing it. They were 15 and 19 years old at the time, and were questioned for several hours without an attorney present. You have one of two possibilites - either they offered detailed confessions regarding the crime scene because they were there and very observant even given their mental capabilities or the facts were fed to them by the officers. The only evidence ever presented against them was the confessions which they quickly recanted after getting legal representation. The confessions themselves implicated two other individuals with rock solid alibis. Absolutely no physical evidence was found to link the two to the crime. A fingerprint was available at the time was never analyzed that later was tied to the admitted killer. The DNA also linked the killer (who a few weeks later raped and killed another in the same fashion). Check out http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1281161/mccollum-brown-memo.pdf
That would be equivalent to around 250,000 homicides in the U.S. today (actual number is around 16,000). Dodge City population in 1876 was about 1,200.
Probably did not get the chance since Dooley was charged after two days. Zimmerman was charged a few weeks after the tweet (over six weeks after the shooting).