The title screemsinjustice! But the truth is, he took hostages, and had a gun, wielding it at police just before being shot. Are the police supposed to have ESP and know it is just a pellet gun? When innocent lives are at risk, I say shoot first, and ask questions later. You can NEVER be expected to know exactly what gun a hostage-holder is brandishing.
Doug MD, I know that the first reporting of an event often is missing in many important details and often the details they do offer may later be proved to be incorrect.
However if the link Gobbler Afflicted provided is very accurate then I wouldn"™t say the shooting was any shining example of good police work.
"śFrom there, Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger said, Penley traversed the Milwee Middle School campus before ending up in a bathroom. By then, more than 40 officers, including SWAT and negotiators, were on scene. He refused to drop the firearm, Eslinger said, and was shot after pointing it at a SWAT deputy[/i]"ť.
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Mr-Pirk
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This has been on the news down here for a few days now.
Lets not go blaming the police for "bad police work". Remember that this kid was the criminal in this event.
The fact is this kid had a hand gun and was holding other class mates hostage. Another thing is that it aparently looked like a Beretta and not a pellet gun. What would one expect to happen? I would have shot him also had he pointed what I thought to be a Beretta 9mm at me.
Remember what happened at Columbine? How many class mates got shot and killed before police were able to take out the two kids that took over the school?
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"The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency........... Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president."
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck ...
I saw the "gun" on tv this morning , and it looked real to me . In altering it to look real , taking hostages , and then pointing it at a heavily armed cop I'd have to say that the kid intended to "commit suicide by cop" . Pretty common these days , sad to say . There was a guy here locally who did nearly the same thing last year, the outcome was the same too . Sometimes the gene pool needs a bit of chlorine .
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So far I can't find any sources that confirm what you are saying about hostages being held at the time of the shooting.
The only thing I can find says that the officer was standing between Penley and two occupied classrooms.
I am not so sure that, after 40 minutes into the incident,any of the classrooms should have remained occupied.
Perhaps some better information will come out later.
But at this point in time, with what information is available, I strongly suspect that the incident will be used as a training tool for what not to do.
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Mr-Pirk
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Someone points a gun at you and you shouldn't shoot? How many people want to be a cop under that way of thinking? How many officers will die heeding that dictate? I feel sorry for potential police recruits in this age of rabid political correctness!
Interesting article and thanks for the link gobbler. I didn't see any particular information in the article about hostages being taken but then newspaper articles rarely have the complete story in the first article. I have been to a few critical incidents in my career (not an armed subject on a school campus though) and there is usually a lot of conflicting information coming into the police, etc. that is difficult to sort out when you are simultaneously trying to save lives. Failing to act often does cost lives.
I noted the attorney was absolutely sure the father was correct in knowing the kid only had a pellet gun and would have absolutely been able to talk the kid out of the gun and into surrendering. Maybe, maybe not. Obviously, the father had not been able to get the kid squared away through psychiatric treatment, counseling, etc. I think the police would have had a whale of a lawsuit against them if they had let the father through and the father found out the kid had somehow obtained a real gun and then shot the father. The father made an educated guess as to what type of weapon the kid had and was right. He just as easily could have been wrong.
If the other kids had been in a classroom to begin with, Mr. pirk, I really can't imagine any responsible teacher letting his kids run out of a classroom when there is a subject armed with a gun outside. That would be like you running out of your house because there is a man with a gun in the street. I think you would likely arm yourself, call 911 and hunker down with locked doors and ready to shoot if the man broke into your house. Remember, those teachers and other kids did not have a gun so locking the door and hunkering down while calling 911 beciomes even more of a prudent option.
As for the shooting, I don't see this as being an example of what not to do. No cop wants to shoot someone BUT, when they point what looks like a gun at you, you better be prepared to shoot to save yourself or your family is likely going to be attending your funeral. And in all honesty, no sane person is going to point a gun at a cop unless they want to kill the cop or have the cop kill them. We're not mind readers Mr. pirk and neither is anybody else in this country. Ohterwise, we'd all quit our day jobs and win the lottery.
It's a sad incident and we all wish there could have been a different outcome but that just didn't happen this time. It's unfortunate but the kid is the one who made this decision and has now paid the price of the consequences.
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Pink, I don't mean he had hostages at the time he was shot but rather he held class mates hostage at one time or another while the events took place.
Remember that he did aim the gun at the police. AS far as they knew he had a centerfire gun and was intent on shooting one or more of them. Police can only be expected or required to hold back for so long. Pointing a gun at the police is the point of no return as fas as I am concerned.
Honestly I feel that police are sometimes required to show too mcuh restraint. With this incident they showed exactly enough.
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"The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency........... Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president."
Teen shot by SWAT team!
