Man dead after officer shoots suspect in St. Louis

[Bosonic]

Source: USA Today

ST. LOUIS — A 23-year-old male robbery suspect is dead after being shot by a police officer in north St. Louis, authorities said Tuesday.

The incident took place in the city's Sixth District, about four miles from unrest in suburban Ferguson, where protests and clashes continue following the Aug. 9 fatal shooting of an 18-year-old man by local police.

No officers were injured, authorities said.

In a press conference following Tuesday's incident, St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson confirmed the shooting in the city's Sixth District. The suspect "brandished a knife" during a convenience store altercation with St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department officers, Dotson said.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/19/st-louis-officer-shooting/14295137/

[hollysmom]

1. here's a suggestiong - teachthe cops who to shot to wound not kill. n/t

[Zoonart]

3. Are you kidding me?

Christ on a cracker! Don't these officers have tasers? What ever happened to attempting to subdue the suspect? This SHOT TO KILL mentality has got to stop.

[Politicalboi]

4. Wolf, is that you?

http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2014/08/robert-farago/cnn-wolf-blitzer-dont-cops-shoot-wound/

Why shoot at all.

[alp227]

15. Please don't link to right wing sites - but at least this one provided a link to original source,

TPM: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/wolf-blitzer-police-shoot-to-injure

[951-Riverside]

5. Point being. Its cheaper to kill people

Who got time for civil suits, testimony, hearings, settlements, etc when you can just blow a guy's brains out, throw a knife nearby and get it over with plus get a 2-4 week paid vacation.

[Zoonart]

9. DING-DING-DING

We have a winner.

Frankly, that's what I think happened with Mike Brown. There was possibly some confrontation, the cop was enraged and shot before he thought it out. Realizing it was a "bad shoot"- he then decided that the suspect needed to be silenced.

[IronGate]

8. Cops aren't taught to shoot to kill,

they're trained to shoot until the threat is neutralized.

Shoot to wound?

[7962]

10. Its very hard to shoot a limb when someone is moving towards you.

And if they're armed with a knife, you're going to aim for the biggest part by instinct. You may get lucky and hit an arm instead.
Assuming that the description above in the OP is true that is, I cant blame him.

[hollysmom]

13. inthe NYC papers there is always the crazy person coming at the cops with a knife

they usually weigh like 400 pounds but they are like 20 feet away - if you shoot them in the foot won't they just go down?

[7962]

18. That presents another problem; ricochet if you miss the foot. Thats a tough shot to make.

Real life shooting is nothing like the movies or "24". A pistol shooter needs to be very good to hit a moving foot from 20 ft. Add adrenaline to that and you're aiming at center mass; which is likely what they're taught to do anyway. You can look at competition shooting on youtube and see the skill it takes to hit small targets.

But now that you mention it, it does always seem like the crazy ones in NY are always huge people doesnt it?? Whats up with that?

[hollysmom]

20. when you are talking about a 400 pound person

1) they are not moving that fast
2) all parts of the target are bigger. Some of those thighs are bigger than me and I am no light weight.

Being heavy and not gong out drives you crazy? That is my excuse anyway. Ugh, and no I havetogo out and do yard work but don't have to talk to a real person, just the dog.

[Reter]

34. Hollywood is influencing many in this thread

Only a super-hero has that kind of aim when there is only a second or two to react and someone is trying to kill them.

[Jester Messiah]

30. Oh, it's hard. Well then.

Maybe if they can't deal with it, they shouldn't take on the responsibility of enforcing the law, the poor dears.

[7962]

31. I'm not a cop, but if someones running at me with a knife, I'm less concerned with what part I hit.

And anyone who thinks differently is probably not being honest about it.

[madville]

21. Should have shot the knife out of his hand

Piece of cake, threat neutralized.

[Spider Jerusalem]

22. Or train them in how to use a baton.

Those are still standard issue for police, no? And "shooting to wound" is trickier than it sounds; the effective range of a handgun is about 25 yards. If someone is coming at you with a knife, you go for centre mass; that's how police are trained to shoot. A situation like that isn't like standing on a range where you have time to aim.

[Reter]

35. You want cops to bring a baton to a knife fight?

The next PD ninja class doesn't graduate until next year.

[Kelvin Mace]

26. There is no such thing as "shooting to wound"

Police and soldiers are taught to shoot at the center of the body to insure hitting the target. This isn't a 60s cop show or Western were bad guys can be shot in the leg or arm. Also, there is no guarantee that a bullet in and are or leg will be non-fatal. Strike an artery and you can bleed out in 60 seconds.

Tasers were supposed to the weapon of choice for this type of situation, but they seemed reserved for torturing people for giggles rather than stopping attackers with knives.

[TheNutcracker]

2. That USED to always be the case...now they definately shoot to kill.

[ManiacJoe]

37. That was never the case.

You have been watching too many Hollywood movies.

[conservaphobe]

6. People/protesters in the neighborhood say he was "mentally challenged"

[TeeYiYi]

7. The kid was only 23...

...and two officers fired their weapons at him.

PzFeed Top News ?@PzFeed 14m

BREAKING NEWS: Suspect in fatal police shooting in St. Louis City is a 23 year old African-American, he was carrying a knife. -Police

BREAKING UPDATE: Police now say 2 officers fired their weapons at suspect but unclear how many shots fired.

https://twitter.com/PzFeed

TYY

[warrant46]

14. Another young boy killed

By men with guns (apparently no time for a taser)

[B2G]

19. 23 is not a 'young boy'

Just saying.

[hollysmom]

25. speak for yourself,

When you get to my age it is like a toddler

[yeoman6987]

28. 23 years old is not a kid

Neither is an 18 year old. Some are parents themselves and some are married. So insulting. I wish we respected adults over 18.

[Live and Learn]

33. Since scientists have determined that the brain isn't fully developed until 25,

I'd say they are still kids.

[yeoman6987]

36. Such disrespect to adults

[Live and Learn]

39. Blame the scientists then.

It is simply a fact.

[christx30]

42. I'm nearly 40.

At 23 I was too busy working to do stupid stuff like robbing a store. Yes, it sucks that this 23 year old adult is dead. But if he had stayed home and watched tv (or done almost anything else) that day instead of stealing and scaring the shit out of some store clerk, he would still be alive.
At the end of the day, it was his choices that led to his death.

[Keefer]

11. Witnesses:

Several witnesses confirm suspect saying, “Shoot me now. Kill me now.”

https://twitter.com/fox2ch/status/501805123098533888

[ReRe]

12. Who the eff knows what happened...

... does anyone really believe anything a police officer says anymore? I hope someone seen and heard what went down. This is NOT good. Holy smoke. I'm not going to say what I'm thinking.

[warrant46]

16. Its sad they are coming back

[ReRe]

17. You stop that...

... that just makes me think of tonight in Ferguson.

[countryjake]

24. What makes you think that they ever left?

It's long been known that Hitler studied the American extermination of our continent's own Original People in order to train his SS and Gestapo troops for carrying out the Holocaust. This nation's successful racist oppression of our minorities was used as a how-to guide for those Nazis in that photo. Such a twisted mentality doesn't just disappear with the passing of a law or amendment; that privileged hateful ideology passes down thru generations and continues to enable such racists to denigrate, dehumanize, disenfranchise, and suppress.

[warrant46]

41. My Point exactly

They are just flexing their weapons in public again

[IsItJustMe]

23. Could you imagine living if Furguson now

Night after night breathing tear gas, having those psychological sound weapons going off, and having thousands of police outside your front door with their guns drawn.

They are driving people nuts.

[billhicks76]

27. And We Re Supposed To Believe Them?

They forfeited their credibility I thought.

[tclambert]

29. In Iceland, they don't want their police to carry weapons because it's dangerous.

They just had their very first incident of an officer killing someone last December. The whole nation is in shock.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025413957

[bullwinkle428]

32. Hello - why hasn't anyone brought up the idea of a taser?

I'm not a taser fanboy by any means, but at least the guy might have come out of it alive.

I will give the police credit for having that news conference out on the street shortly after the incident, where the captain actually ran through the chain of events in detail, and took questions about it. Compare and contrast with those Ferguson PD assholes.

[ManiacJoe]

38. Tasers are for use against non-lethal force.

Lethal force (guns, knives, clubs) are defended against using lethal force.

[LiberalElite]

40. they traded tasers for tanks n/t