We had some discussion on the previous thread about LEO shooting unarmed men, and I wanted to expand the discussion to situations where the LEO shoots the victim, or good guy.
Question 1
There was a shooting in GA last year where a homeowner called 911 to deal with an intruder and was in turn shot by the police when the LEO arrived. There was the Australian lady who called 911 to respond to an assault outside of her house, she was shot by the responding LEO. There was a shooting at a traffic stop of a lawfully owned CCW holder.
These are tragedies for all involved, LEOs included. How does a civilian prevent this from happening? Stay on 911 with the operator and fully describe yourself so the LEO can recognize you? Anything else we can do?
Question 2
Here are series of articles about a different situation. The homeowner is at home asleep when he is awoken by police who are executing a raid/warrant ON THE WRONG HOUSE. In two of the cases, the home owner answers the door armed, it is not clear to me if the third homeowner is armed when he answers the door. In all three cases the homeowner is shot in a matter of seconds by the police.
The police in GA went to the wrong home and the homeowner answered the door with a gun. He was shot in the neck and died.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/georgia-police-shoot-homeowner-responding-wrong-home/story?id=39723930
Here is another one in GA where the police go to the wrong home and shoot the armed homeowner.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2017...ment-attacked-eleventh-circuit-appeals-court/ (this article is pretty biased against the police but it does raise some interesting points about the right to defend your home vs the police right to exercise their legal duties- even if at the time the police are mistaken as to where they are and whom they are dealing with.)
Here is another wrong address shooting in GA. This time the dog was killed and the homeowner wounded.
https://www.myajc.com/news/local-go...shooting-east-atlanta/6tPHl5j8QQgIKhiVzRiMHJ/
I could post another half dozen or so articles from the last two years on the same or similar scenario including several where the homeowners were elderly women shot in their bedrooms. Mistaken shootings by LEO of homeowners are not uncommon and are often fatal.
Obviously, serving a warrant on a home is a dangerous job. Speed and surprise can be a LEO ally in trying to get in an arrest the bad guy before any blood is shed. However, this tactic can backfire when the homeowner is a good guy who is awoken in the middle of the night to pounding and yelling but to no other obvious indications of a police officer. - such as emergency lights. Another problem is the confusion in the first minute of the raid. Shouting, darkness, aggressive movement are all going to trigger a fear of a home invasion by the homeowner. How do we reduce the risk of this type of tragedy?
This is not a purely hypothetical series of questions for me. I teach CCW classes and this topic comes up a lot. Also, even though I live in the middle of nowhere with no neighbors within a 1/4 mile of me in a house that is 1/4 mile off of the road and not visible from the road, LEO have mistakenly come to my house twice in the last few years. Fortunately, it was during the day and they were not executing a warrant but still . . .I have dogs and I was armed with a concealed carry handgun on both occasions.
Question 1
There was a shooting in GA last year where a homeowner called 911 to deal with an intruder and was in turn shot by the police when the LEO arrived. There was the Australian lady who called 911 to respond to an assault outside of her house, she was shot by the responding LEO. There was a shooting at a traffic stop of a lawfully owned CCW holder.
These are tragedies for all involved, LEOs included. How does a civilian prevent this from happening? Stay on 911 with the operator and fully describe yourself so the LEO can recognize you? Anything else we can do?
Question 2
Here are series of articles about a different situation. The homeowner is at home asleep when he is awoken by police who are executing a raid/warrant ON THE WRONG HOUSE. In two of the cases, the home owner answers the door armed, it is not clear to me if the third homeowner is armed when he answers the door. In all three cases the homeowner is shot in a matter of seconds by the police.
The police in GA went to the wrong home and the homeowner answered the door with a gun. He was shot in the neck and died.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/georgia-police-shoot-homeowner-responding-wrong-home/story?id=39723930
Here is another one in GA where the police go to the wrong home and shoot the armed homeowner.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2017...ment-attacked-eleventh-circuit-appeals-court/ (this article is pretty biased against the police but it does raise some interesting points about the right to defend your home vs the police right to exercise their legal duties- even if at the time the police are mistaken as to where they are and whom they are dealing with.)
Here is another wrong address shooting in GA. This time the dog was killed and the homeowner wounded.
https://www.myajc.com/news/local-go...shooting-east-atlanta/6tPHl5j8QQgIKhiVzRiMHJ/
I could post another half dozen or so articles from the last two years on the same or similar scenario including several where the homeowners were elderly women shot in their bedrooms. Mistaken shootings by LEO of homeowners are not uncommon and are often fatal.
Obviously, serving a warrant on a home is a dangerous job. Speed and surprise can be a LEO ally in trying to get in an arrest the bad guy before any blood is shed. However, this tactic can backfire when the homeowner is a good guy who is awoken in the middle of the night to pounding and yelling but to no other obvious indications of a police officer. - such as emergency lights. Another problem is the confusion in the first minute of the raid. Shouting, darkness, aggressive movement are all going to trigger a fear of a home invasion by the homeowner. How do we reduce the risk of this type of tragedy?
This is not a purely hypothetical series of questions for me. I teach CCW classes and this topic comes up a lot. Also, even though I live in the middle of nowhere with no neighbors within a 1/4 mile of me in a house that is 1/4 mile off of the road and not visible from the road, LEO have mistakenly come to my house twice in the last few years. Fortunately, it was during the day and they were not executing a warrant but still . . .I have dogs and I was armed with a concealed carry handgun on both occasions.