No Charges in Wal-Mart BB Gun Shooting

[Skyy God]

Watch the video. Dude's just shopping for pet food, swinging a BB gun, and minding his own business. Then, BAM.

Apparently the Dayton PD trains their officers to murder people.

http://www.whio.com/videos/news/walm...ptures/vCtB6Z/

A special grand jury called to review evidence in the fatal shooting of John Crawford III, killed by police in an Ohio Walmart while carrying a BB gun from store's shelves, decided today that no officers involved in the shooting will be indicted.

Surveillance video from Crawford's shooting—previously unavailable to the public—shows Crawford walking around the store while talking on the phone, with the BB gun at his side or on his shoulder. The disturbing video then shows an officer rushing toward Crawford with his gun drawn before shooting him.

Though the special grand jury reportedly considered charging the officers with murder, reckless homicide, or negligent homicide, WHIO reports the jury ultimately decided not to indict the officers involved in the shooting, finding their actions were justified.

Vince Pope, attorney for the officers involved in the shooting, released a statement following the decision:

"I believe the grand jury's decision, it's absolutely the right decision, that the officers acted well within their training."

Derrick Foward, president of the Dayton Unit NAACP, also released a statement:

"The Special Grand Jury in Greene County made the wrong decision. It's a sad day in the history of Dayton."

Foward added the NAACP will call for a complete investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.

http://gawker.com/no-indictments-aga...oot-1638642197

[Beef Supreme]

Watch this video of another cop shooting a guy for no reason. It's a ****ing epidemic.

http://www.wltx.com/story/news/local...ting/16187305/

[Eleazar]

Originally Posted by NinerDoug

Well, here's the thing: how many stories have you heard about cops shooting people, usually a kid, who has a toy gun?

Can't remember a single one. Certainly this is not a regular occurrence.

[Mennonite]

Originally Posted by Cochise

Can't remember a single one. Certainly this is not a regular occurrence.

There were several instances of this happening when I was growing up. I think it's one of the reasons why they are required to have orange tips now. i may be wrong about that.

I do remember an incident a few years ago where a cop shot an actor at a costume party who had a rubber gun.

[NinerDoug]

Originally Posted by Cochise

Can't remember a single one. Certainly this is not a regular occurrence.

Just happened in Redwood City (CA) about six months or so ago. Two cops shot and killed a 13 year old kid who was walking to his friend's house carrying his BB gun.

[NinerDoug]

Originally Posted by Cochise

Can't remember a single one. Certainly this is not a regular occurrence.

Originally Posted by Mennonite

There were several instances of this happening when I was growing up. I think it's one of the reasons why they are required to have orange tips now. i may be wrong about that.

I do remember an incident a few years ago where a cop shot an actor at a costume party who had a rubber gun.

http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/tg-icep.pdf

This report is from 1990. (Pages 30 and 31) They looked at a 5 year period and found about 5 incidents per month where police used force as a result of mistaking a toy gun for a real gun.

[Al Bundy]

Originally Posted by Mennonite

There were several instances of this happening when I was growing up. I think it's one of the reasons why they are required to have orange tips now. i may be wrong about that.

That's.exactly why.

[BigRichard]

Originally Posted by Cochise

Can't remember a single one. Certainly this is not a regular occurrence.

In addition the guy calling in telling the cops he has a rifle waving it at people puts them on high alert. I still think that guy should be charged with something, and not a light something. He deserves jail time.

[BigRedChief]

What about all these white guys openly carrying rifles and AR-15's into Starbucks, restaurants and stores? Why haven't one of them been shot yet?

[Eleazar]

Originally Posted by NinerDoug

http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/tg-icep.pdf

This report is from 1990. (Pages 30 and 31) They looked at a 5 year period and found about 5 incidents per month where police used force as a result of mistaking a toy gun for a real gun.

You said "cops shooting people" for holding toy guns, not "using force" or shooting and missing or anything like that. So do we have anything that isn't 20 years old...?

[Bwana]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

What about all these white guys openly carrying rifles and AR-15's into Starbucks, restaurants and stores? Why haven't one of them been shot yet?

Because they carry real guns and may shoot back?

J/K

Those guys are idiots, but most of the time they put it out there that they are going to be at a specific location in advance.

[NinerDoug]

Originally Posted by Cochise

You said "cops shooting people" for holding toy guns, not "using force" or shooting and missing or anything like that. So do we have anything that isn't 20 years old...?

Well, I just googled it, and that came up. But like I said, it just happened recently in California, and I had heard stories about it growing up. Certainly cops know about the existence of toy guns / BB guns, and they ought to realize that there is a significant chance that a guy just standing there holding a "gun" in Walmart, looking at stuff on the selves, as he was doing when they shot him, is in fact holding a toy or BB gun.

[Mennonite]

Here's the actor I was thinking of:

Anthony Dwain Lee

On October 28, 2000, Lee was attending a costume party party in Benedict Canyon at a friend's mansion dubbed "The Castle". Lee was dressed as a devil wearing a mask and long, black cape. He was also carrying a replica of a .357 Magnum Desert Eagle made of rubber. Sometime around 1 a.m, two LAPD officers, Officer Terrill Hopper and Officer Natalie Humpherys, responded to a noise complaint at the residence. The two were met by a private security guard hired by one of the party's hosts. The security guard showed the officers to the kitchen and left them to find one of the party hosts.[5]

Before the party hosts could be found, Officer Hopper left the kitchen, exiting through a side door. Hopper searched the darkened narrow path area behind the home with his flashlight before coming upon a glass door. Behind the door stood Lee and his friend, fellow actor Jeff Denton. The two were in Denton's bedroom chatting with another actor when they saw Officer Hopper's flashlight shine through the glass door.[5][6] Officer Hopper then shot through the glass door nine times, hitting Lee a total of four times, once in the head and three in the back.[7] Lee died at the scene.[8] Officer Hopper later said he fired his weapon because Lee aimed his replica gun at him and was unaware that the gun was not real.


tl;dr version: A black guy goes to costume party carrying a rubber gun. Cops get a noise complaint. Security guards take cops to kitchen to wait for home owners. Cops start prowling through the house for some reason instead of waiting for home owners and shoot black guy to death from the other side of a glass door.

Cop walks. Of course.

[Pitt Gorilla]

I wonder if these people got shot. The people in the first three pics, of course, were smart enough to go to Target and Staples!

[NinerDoug]

Here's what I was thinking about. Happened in Santa Rosa, not Redwood City.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/1...n_4152819.html

Sheriff’s deputies in Santa Rosa, Calif. shot and killed a 13-year-old boy who was holding a pellet gun that resembled an AK-47 assault rifle on Tuesday.

In a press conference Wednesday, Lt. Paul Henry of the Santa Rosa Police Department said that two Sonoma County Sheriff’s Deputies were patrolling a neighborhood when they spotted Andy Lopez, 13, carrying what they said appeared to be a rifle. Henry said that officers called for backup and repeatedly ordered Lopez to drop the weapon. Lopez reportedly turned towards the officers and one of them opened fire. Lopez was pronounced dead at the scene.

"When the deputies shouted at the subject, the subject began to turn toward the deputies," said Henry. "As the subject was turning towards [the deputies], the barrel of the assault rifle was rising up and turning in [their] direction. The deputy feared for his safety, the safety of his partner and the safety of the community members in the area."

Like the guy killed in Walmart, the kid got shouted at, turned toward the people shouting, which is a perfectly natural reaction, and got blown away.

[Bwana]

Originally Posted by NinerDoug

Here's what I was thinking about. Happened in Santa Rosa, not Redwood City.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/1...n_4152819.html



Like the guy killed in Walmart, the kid got shouted at, turned toward the people shouting, which is a perfectly natural reaction, and got blown away.

Once again a "BB gun" that looks like an AR, what could possible go wrong? Note to self: don't let your kids wander around out there with something that looks like an AR-15.