A fellow officer was involved in a shooting last night during a robbery. 1 bad guy dead and the other 2 who were involved are in custody. It happened around 945pm last night and I was called to the scene (swat activation) for crowd control at about 1 am.
I get home this morning around 930 and start checking online for the stories put out by the two news agencies who were present. I was appalled by how careless the local fox news channel quoted the deceased family members, who were not there when it happened, as witnesses.
so first, i'll give you what REALLY happened as the full details won't be published until the SBI investigation is complete, and then i'll post the two different news outlet versions.
How it went down: ***this is unofficial, i'm telling it like it was told to me from neighbors who watched the whole thing go down mixed in with a little bit of factual basis from the call notes***
female victim calls 911 and says that there are at least 2 people inside her house and one has a gun to her boyfriends head. two officers just happen to be very close by and arrive as the robbery is concluding. the robbers have no idea that the cops are outside as they exit. cops challenge robbers as they're coming down the steps into the yard and one of the robbers has a shotgun. one of the officers keys up his radio and you hear, "drop the gun! drop the gun! drop the gun! [two gunshots]" the next bit of radio traffic is the officer requesting emergency medical assistance for the downed robber and that the second suspect had just fled on foot. the second suspect fired two shots at the officers as he fled. he was later apprehended about 5 blocks away. a third suspect has been identified and warrants are out for his arrest.
neighbors told me that the shooting victim raised the shotgun toward the officers just before he was shot.
now, onto the local politics. the victim (officially unidentified but i know him VERY well so i'm sure who it is) is a local headache for me in the projects. (the robbery occurred several miles from the projects in a lower middle class residential neighborhood). i have chased him and fought him on numerous occassions but we always had a mutual respect for each other as pawns in the law and order game. so his family shows up at the scene and starts a mini-riot, hence the reason i was called in on my day off at 1am. mamma is out preaching to us about what a good boy her son is and how the PD is going to give her a nice christmas after the lawsuit if finished she's not the least bit emotional about her dead son and keeps cursing us and saying that our christmas bonuses are going to her family. a few fights between onlookers break out but other than that, nothing much happens and they all leave by about 430 am.
so here's why i'm so pissed. i pull up the local fox news site to find that the reporter only interviewed the dead robber's mom and she says that we chased him and shot him 5 times in the back (remember, mom doesn't even know for sure that it's her son who is dead, let alone the circumstances surrounding it.)
here's the fox version that was published today:
**edit: the original story i read this morning has been updated with some of the facts so it doesn't sound as bad now but the original story only had the interview with "eyewitness" mamma saying "those cops chased my boy and shot him in the back" she was at her house several miles away when it happened **
http://www.myfoxwghp.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=7389310&version=11&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1
now an example of a factual news article that doesn't put the spin on it.
http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2008/sep/09/high-point-police-kill-armed-robbery-suspect/news-local/
so now you non-law enforcement folks can see, from the beginning, what it's like for any officer who has to take a lawful lethal force action. it's tough enough dealing with having to take a life but then having to hear the irresponsible BS put out by the media doesn't make it easier.
I get home this morning around 930 and start checking online for the stories put out by the two news agencies who were present. I was appalled by how careless the local fox news channel quoted the deceased family members, who were not there when it happened, as witnesses.
so first, i'll give you what REALLY happened as the full details won't be published until the SBI investigation is complete, and then i'll post the two different news outlet versions.
How it went down: ***this is unofficial, i'm telling it like it was told to me from neighbors who watched the whole thing go down mixed in with a little bit of factual basis from the call notes***
female victim calls 911 and says that there are at least 2 people inside her house and one has a gun to her boyfriends head. two officers just happen to be very close by and arrive as the robbery is concluding. the robbers have no idea that the cops are outside as they exit. cops challenge robbers as they're coming down the steps into the yard and one of the robbers has a shotgun. one of the officers keys up his radio and you hear, "drop the gun! drop the gun! drop the gun! [two gunshots]" the next bit of radio traffic is the officer requesting emergency medical assistance for the downed robber and that the second suspect had just fled on foot. the second suspect fired two shots at the officers as he fled. he was later apprehended about 5 blocks away. a third suspect has been identified and warrants are out for his arrest.
neighbors told me that the shooting victim raised the shotgun toward the officers just before he was shot.
now, onto the local politics. the victim (officially unidentified but i know him VERY well so i'm sure who it is) is a local headache for me in the projects. (the robbery occurred several miles from the projects in a lower middle class residential neighborhood). i have chased him and fought him on numerous occassions but we always had a mutual respect for each other as pawns in the law and order game. so his family shows up at the scene and starts a mini-riot, hence the reason i was called in on my day off at 1am. mamma is out preaching to us about what a good boy her son is and how the PD is going to give her a nice christmas after the lawsuit if finished she's not the least bit emotional about her dead son and keeps cursing us and saying that our christmas bonuses are going to her family. a few fights between onlookers break out but other than that, nothing much happens and they all leave by about 430 am.
so here's why i'm so pissed. i pull up the local fox news site to find that the reporter only interviewed the dead robber's mom and she says that we chased him and shot him 5 times in the back (remember, mom doesn't even know for sure that it's her son who is dead, let alone the circumstances surrounding it.)
here's the fox version that was published today:
**edit: the original story i read this morning has been updated with some of the facts so it doesn't sound as bad now but the original story only had the interview with "eyewitness" mamma saying "those cops chased my boy and shot him in the back" she was at her house several miles away when it happened **
http://www.myfoxwghp.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=7389310&version=11&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1
Officers responded to Clover Dr. around 9:45 p.m. Monday, where they saw a man armed with a shotgun come out of a home. Police said the man threatened officers before they shot and killed him.
High Point Police Chief Jim Fealy disputed reports from witnesses [mamma] that officers shot the suspect in the back.
now an example of a factual news article that doesn't put the spin on it.
http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2008/sep/09/high-point-police-kill-armed-robbery-suspect/news-local/
Police said officers were responding to an armed robbery report when they confronted the two suspects, one of whom was armed with a gun. Police said the suspect did not comply with orders from the officers and "engaged in behavior that threatened the officers' safety." Police did not say what that behavior was.
The officers then fatally shot the suspect. Police have not released any information about the suspect, including the name or gender of the suspect.
The State Bureau of Investigation was called in to investigate the shooting.
so now you non-law enforcement folks can see, from the beginning, what it's like for any officer who has to take a lawful lethal force action. it's tough enough dealing with having to take a life but then having to hear the irresponsible BS put out by the media doesn't make it easier.
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