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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOhio woman accidentally shot in head, killed during Chillicothe drug raid
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio - Authorities say a woman was killed in an accidental shooting by a law-enforcement officer during a drug raid in rural central Ohio.
A prosecutor in Ross County, south of Columbus, said 35-year-old Krystal Barrows, was accidentally shot in the head Wednesday night after officers entered a home to conduct the raid.
Prosecutor Matt Schmidt tells the Chillicothe Gazette that it wasn't clear whether the gunfire was the result of a weapon malfunction or user error. The county sheriff's office wouldn't answer questions about the shooting.
A sheriff's office news release said six people were charged during the raid and "large amounts" of heroin were found, along with cash and guns.
http://www.newsnet5.com/news/state/ohio-woman-accidentally-shot-in-head-killed-during-chillicothe-drug-raid
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)Fucking drug wars.
firsttimer
(324 posts)I feel safer already knowing the police are protecting us from these drug people.
spanone
(135,873 posts)Kaleva
(36,341 posts)one shouldn't be surprised when such things as said in the article take place.
tabasco
(22,974 posts)If you stand behind it, so are you.
Kaleva
(36,341 posts)Living with other's who are armed to the teeth with handguns and assault rifles and who deal in heroin?
leftyladyfrommo
(18,870 posts)It's not right. No one should ever be shot down like that. Even in the middle of a drug raid.
But if you choose to live in a place full of guns and illegal drugs then you have to be aware of the danger.
tabasco
(22,974 posts)You see, that's a problem.
leftyladyfrommo
(18,870 posts)when you live where people are dealing heroin. And those people know the risk. Or you can get killed by rival drug dealers. That is a horribly riskty life syle.
There isn't anything new about that.
tabasco
(22,974 posts)when police kill people with no justification?
Kaleva
(36,341 posts)or been sentenced to prison for a long time. Nobody should think there was even a remote chance that anything positive would come out of this.
tabasco
(22,974 posts)It was the police that killed this woman.
Kaleva
(36,341 posts)Associating with people armed with assault rifles and who deal in heroin isn't a good life choice.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)She didn't die of a heroin overdose.
She wasn't shot by some low-life with an assault rifle.
"Associating with people" isn't generally a capitol offense.
I guess she's be alive to day if that killer cop had made some better life choices (as in practicing gun safety).
Your post is a classic example of blaming the victim, and certain worthy of a Republican congressional candidate. It rings a little tinny here, though.
NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)Make it about her all you want, the police are the ones that killed her.
The fact that you know absolutely nothing about why she was even there in the first place makes that comment even more despicable. It's just as likely that she didn't want to be there at all, and circumstances kept her from leaving.
ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)One, we don't know what her "life choices" were.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)Kaleva knows this.
DonP
(6,185 posts)Note that the poster's comments are all about the guns in the house, not the drugs.
Some people on DU seem to think summary execution is justified if they have guns and it seems to be an approved level of commentary.
I must have missed that part of the party platform.
I remember when DU was one of the bastions of liberalism on the 'net.
RC
(25,592 posts)All it takes anymore to claim to have voted for Obama (at least once) and you're in.
Tom Rinaldo
(22,913 posts)But we don't. That is the bottom line. It is fine for all of us to discuss the issues this tragedy raise for us, but I won't condemn someone for being reactionary off the cuff for noting that that woman seemingly was exposed to and/or participating in a dangerous lifestyle, any more than I will condemn her off the cuff for being where she was that night. There is too much that I don't know, that I probably never will know.
I think there is a horrific misguided "war on drugs" taking place in this country. I also think there are are some very dangerous predators out there who are willing to terrorize innocent people in a neighborhood to protect their drug turf and the profits they milk from it. We can talk about how U.S. drug policy fostered the rise of violent drug gangs in Mexico for example, but there are organized gangs beheading people down there now, and not just other drug gang members. Should we oppose a Mexican police raid on one of their safe houses? That's not so close to home of course, but drug dealers in American cities kill innocent bystanders in drive by shootings. I don't know the full story about why that drug raid was staged, and I don't know how what went down went down. I am not defending the police action that resulted in this woman being killed, I'm just admitting what I do not know. I can guess, we all can.
FreakinDJ
(17,644 posts)But I blame the Fucked Up Police State Mentality for already clearing the cop of all wrong doing.
Criminally Negligent or Not - Tax Dollars should not be funding his exploits nor pension
Tom Rinaldo
(22,913 posts)I think it more likely that there is a coverup than not, or at least that the cop in question did not have the degree of control he needed to perform his function without killing someone who did not directly threaten him. It is conceivable that there is another possible explanation - someone knocking his hand or whatever, but given how these things generally play out - not so likely.
I have a leftist musician friend who is an ex-cop. I get that there are times when cops feel like they are operating in the equivalent of a war zone, be that a spontaneous outbreak of violence or a planned operation, one planned with or without adequate justification. In the latter case though the line officer usually doesn't get to make that call, he is informed of his mission - much like a line soldier is.
There is a middle ground possible between prosecution and continued employment and a guaranteed pension. Some cops really should be held criminally negligent for their specific acts, while others fall short of fulfilling their responsibilities safely without rising to the level of criminal intent or negligence. However they still can be found incompetent to remain in that position and should not be given the chance to blow it again, with human life at risk, if they can't handle an admittedly difficult job.
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)Putting a 'D' on bad republican ideas for going on twelve years, now.
FatBuddy
(376 posts)Logical
(22,457 posts)PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)People read way more into statements than what one writes.
No surprise that something very bad happened at all.
Your statement in no way appears (to me) to support summary execution. So many people here have itchy trigger fingers.
Kaleva
(36,341 posts)All I'm saying is that it ought not be a surprise that this ended in tragedy. Even if she hadn't been shot or there were no shots fired, she might have been looking at a long prison sentence and that in of itself would be a tragedy especially when one considers she has three young children.
Orrex
(63,224 posts)She was probably wearing lipstick and high heels at the time, too.
FatBuddy
(376 posts)leftyladyfrommo
(18,870 posts)Hell will freeze over first.
seveneyes
(4,631 posts)Weapon malfunction my ass. It sounds like it functioned as desired after the overzealous killer pulled the trigger. Once again, a law enforcement official murders another citizen and will walk away without a scratch. There can not be any excuse for this useless war on drug users.
dlwickham
(3,316 posts)tosh
(4,424 posts)because I had the same question. She was in the home that was raided.
http://www.chillicothegazette.com/article/20131220/NEWS01/312200002/Six-arrested-multicounty-drug-investigation
G_j
(40,370 posts)shoot someone in the head??
Spirochete
(5,264 posts)In this case, though, she probably itched her nose and the trigger-happy narc pulled the trigger.
ileus
(15,396 posts)Wonder if it was a handgun or rifle discharge, manual safety or "safe action"....either way someone had their meathook on the trigger when I shouldn't have been.
This is what we get for accepting a police state as normal.
Logical
(22,457 posts)madinmaryland
(64,933 posts)Sounds more like a Barney Fife to me.
http://www.chillicothegazette.com/article/20131220/NEWS01/312200002/Six-arrested-multicounty-drug-investigation?nclick_check=1
FreakinDJ
(17,644 posts)madinmaryland
(64,933 posts)I do find it odd how a gun accidently goes off and hits someone in the house. It apparently could have hit anyone. Sounds like a Barney Fife type of move. Hopefully they have taken his gun away from him.
Kaleva
(36,341 posts)"A drug-trafficking suspect hanged himself with a sheet in the Pickaway County jail on Tuesday.
Raymond D. Tackett Jr., 32, of Chillicothe, was discovered hanging in his cell at 4:33 a.m. and was pronounced dead at Berger Hospital in Circleville, said Lt. Troy Rine, the sheriffs office jail administrator."
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/12/25/Pickaway-County-jail-suicide.html
lpbk2713
(42,766 posts)Heaven help us from Keystone Kops who shouldn't even have a night stick in their hands.
FatBuddy
(376 posts)i'm sure they were just delivering milk
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)Savannahmann
(3,891 posts)99Forever
(14,524 posts)... one brought milk.