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I still do not have an opinion on whether or not shooting the 93 year old woman was necessary and the result of good judgement.

mojo84 wrote:I still do not have an opinion on whether or not shooting the 93 year old woman was necessary and the result of good judgement.

You're not alone in that assessment.

mojo84 wrote:I still do not have an opinion on whether or not shooting the 93 year old woman was necessary and the result of good judgement.

This is true we do not know.

However if one of my family had a psychotic episode, I would be very reluctant to call the police.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/commu ... p/25883904" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

More hot buttons to this than I realized at the time.

Community activists including the New Black Panther Party are demanding action.

The Mayor is recommending the officer be fired.

I'm terribly confused,

in the comments it mentions "dementia" and "they took away her keys"....where are people getting this information? I've not seen any of this.

if this is correct, and the dementia was bad enough to take away her keys, then why not her gun? at that point it's the family's fault, not the cop's, he shouldn't be fired, that's just trying to look good for the press because it's difficult to blame the 'victim' in the press.

SewTexas wrote:I'm terribly confused,

in the comments it mentions "dementia" and "they took away her keys"....where are people getting this information? I've not seen any of this.

if this is correct, and the dementia was bad enough to take away her keys, then why not her gun? at that point it's the family's fault, not the cop's, he shouldn't be fired, that's just trying to look good for the press because it's difficult to blame the 'victim' in the press.

The comment about alzheimer's or dementia wasn't in any of the news stories I saw...Wild Bill just mentioned it as a possibilty on the forum...the news story says she was upset because the DPS refused to renew her driver's license (evidently couldn't pass the test) and her nephew came to her house, trying to take her keys from her. She picked up a gun and "waved it around" and threatened her nephew according to what he told the police. We don't know what the relationship betwen her and her nephew was like...he may be a good guy just trying to protect her from herself...or he might be someone she dislikes who she felt was trying to take her car for his own use, and she refused to let him. Regardless, he called the police...we simply don't know WHY it happened....but I'd have trouble coming up with a good reason for her to be shot five times unless she fired a shot at the officer or clearly indicated she was about to do so. From what has been reported so far, it sounds like he told her to put the gun down...she did not obey...and he opened fire. As far as I know the officer hasn't released any statement, but IF he says she pointed the gun at him before he opened fire, unless someone comes forward that witnessed it or a video surfaces to contradict him, it would be difficult to say he was at fault. Even so, I think he is out of a job in Hearne...2 fatal shootings in a couple of years, is not going to sit well with the citizens.

http://www.chron.com/news/texas/article ... to-6280049" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The 93 year old woman fired two times before the officer shot her. Seems an important detail that was left out of the earlier news reports.

philip964 wrote:The 93 year old woman fired two times before the officer shot her. Seems an important detail that was left out of the earlier news reports.

I wondered how they missed that?

City council fired the police officer today to cheering crowds. I'm no lawyer, but when the grand jury no bills him, does he have a good cause of action?

Self Defense is Self Defense and the 93 year old fired two shots at the officer before he engaged according to reports that trickled out much later after everyone was thrown into a frenzy down there. Seems like Justice has been served unless it is now Illegal for an American to Defend Himself.

If he was fired, I hope he becomes wealthy from whatever funds this pathetic city has. It's a sorry City that doesn't back their LEO's when they're justified in their actions.

Unless of course the 93 year old woman was attempting to murder rabbits & unicorns attacking her vegetable garden. Maybe she was firing at a drone.

Yeah...if she was shooting at people then it was 99% justified. No matter how sad and tragic, what could the officer do?


The people to blame here....the 93 year old woman, sorry but she if she started the shooting she bears primary responsibility. Secondarily I put some responsibility on the family. There are ways to handle things. You gotta know your relatives. If they are going to go nuts, do not provoke them. Be smart. Be sly.

WildBill wrote:

philip964 wrote:The 93 year old woman fired two times before the officer shot her. Seems an important detail that was left out of the earlier news reports.

I wondered how they missed that?

The nephew says she fired two shots before the officer shot her, but the statement by the Police Department just says she "brandished" a pistol and doesn't make any mention of shots being fired by her. That's a pretty odd discrepancy...a rather important detail to be left off a departmental statement after an officer involved shooting.

talltex wrote:

WildBill wrote:

philip964 wrote:The 93 year old woman fired two times before the officer shot her. Seems an important detail that was left out of the earlier news reports.

I wondered how they missed that?

The nephew says she fired two shots before the officer shot her, but the statement by the Police Department just says she "brandished" a pistol and doesn't make any mention of shots being fired by her. That's a pretty odd discrepancy...a rather important detail to be left off a departmental statement after an officer involved shooting.

Well they did just fire the guy and if they cannot locate the bullets you would have to consider it hearsay at the start of an investigation.

philip964 wrote:City council fired the police officer today to cheering crowds. I'm no lawyer, but when the grand jury no bills him, does he have a good cause of action?

Not really. Unless he has an employment contract with the city, or is covered under civil service rules, neither of which are likely in such a small town, he's out of luck, unless he can prove he was fired because he is in a protected class per federal or state law.

"Loss of confidence" in an officer in a small town is bad, not only for the officer, but for the town and department as well.

And with being involved in two shootings in two years, methinks the officer might want to consider a new line of work, anyway.

Though small, Hearne is a rough town and it has had a lot of racial controversy.

For years the community has had a lot of drug activity and basically, 10 - 15 years ago there was a drug bust that involved a group of blacks (less than 20) being arrested. This was just after the Tulia scandal, which some thought to exploit as a defensive tactic. So the ACLU was enlisted and charges that a large percentage of the black population is regularly arrested! DISCRIMINATION!

So it's easy to see the motivation of this poor excuse of a mayor throwing this policeman under the bus. After the smoke clears I expect this to be considered a legit shooting.