Free Republic

The Euharlee, Georgia police officer who shot and killed a teenager because she wrongly thought he was holding a gun had made a similar mistake in the past, and was fired from her previous job as a police officer as part of long history of blunders and poor job performance. When 17-year-old Christopher Roupe answered the door at his home on the night of February 17, officer Beth Gatny opened fire on him. Gatny, who was there to serve a warrant on Roupe’s father, had thought the teenager was holding a gun. Lawyers for the Roupe family say the kid...

Christopher Roupe, 17, was shot by a Euharlee police officer on Friday when he answered the door. Police say he was pointing a handgun, not the video game device. Roupe was an aspiring Marine, his family said.A Georgia teen who dreamed of being a Marine was killed by police at his front door while wielding only a Wii remote, the family lawyer claims. Christopher Roupe, 17, of Euharlee was felled by a single police bullet when an unidentified officer arrived at the family mobile home to execute a probation violation warrant against his father, authorities said. Meanwhile, police assert that...

A Georgia family is in shock following the death of their 17-year-old son, who was accidentally killed by a police officer who believed the video game controller he was holding was a gun, according to the family’s lawyer. Christopher Roupe of Euharlee, Georgia heard a knock at the door of the family’s home last Friday night. Upon opening the door, he was immediately shot by a female police officer. Roupe was pronounced dead upon arrival at a local hospital. The officer broke down it tears upon realizing her mistake, according to The New York Daily News. She had been making...

Police in Georgia on Friday served a warrant for a probation violation at the trailer park home of a man and his son, a 17-year-old aspiring Marine. In the process of serving the warrant on the boy's father, an officer fatally shot the teen. His crime: according to his attorney, he did nothing more than answer the door while holding a controller of a Nintendo Wii. Police in Euharlee, Georgia - about 50 miles northwest of Atlanta - however, claim that Christopher Roupe pointed a gun at the female officer when he opened the door, which prompted her to fire...