Fatal shooting of Kansas City police officer not premeditated, authorities say

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Fatal shooting of Kansas City police officer not premeditated, authorities say

Associated Press in Kansas City
Wednesday 20 July 2016 17.38 BST

The fatal shooting of a police officer in Kansas City, Kansas, was not part of a planned ambush, but the work of someone trying to evade arrest, authorities said Wednesday.

Police chief Terry Zeigler said during a news conference that authorities had two young men in custody, but declined to give details about possible charges. He added that the attack wasn’t part of the recent string of shootings of police in the US, but that “hate against police has got to stop”.

“The crime does not fit the national narrative of planned attacks against law enforcement officers, but it does fit the narrative fact that words matter. The anti-hate speech has got to stop because the consequences are real,” the chief said.

Capt Robert Melton, 46, was searching for a suspect in a drive-by shooting when he drove up to someone who matched that person’s description just before 2pm Tuesday. Before Melton could get out of his vehicle, the person opened fire through his window, hitting him several times, Zeigler said.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/20/kansas-city-police-officer-shooting-robert-melton

[tonyt53]

1. Sad thing is, he statement won't stop this from being a talking point by the GOP.

[Igel]

2. There are two points in that article.

The first is that the killer didn't set out in order to kill a cop.

The second is that it's apparently plausible think that either the killer was so afraid that he'd be one of the many thousands of blacks killed per year in the US during traffic stops that he shot in panic ("blue panic"?); or he just thought the life of a "pig" wasn't worth much, so he killed 3/5 of a person. Note that neither assumption is true. The perception of the death toll is exaggerated; blue lives aren't worth less.

Then again, perhaps he was just a killer.