Not at all unusual with officer involved shootings, at least in California.
Also, AFAICT it was the middle of the night in a poorly-lit car (because of nighttime lighting settings)...
I'll not question 1 shot and maybe 2 but after that under those conditions of a crowded train, there needs to be some detailed explanation given. Not that I expect any beyond very general CYA type stuff.
Police are taught to shoot until the threat is stopped.
An unarmed man. Okay. They succeeded.
Almost no information evryone is being tight lipped.Given the information available, that seems an inappropriate statement. Nothing has been confirmed at all. We have an account on the internet of a presumed witness who doesn’t claim to have seen the alleged escalation. Did perpetrator pull a shank, shiv, knife? The streets are cold, it isn’t beyond imagination that a presumed vagrant would have such a thing for self defense. These weapons are more deadly than guns at less than 21 feet. Did the guy pull a gun? Did he reach for and possible get control of the officer’s gun, taser, or other weapon? In a confined space the decision needs to be made in milliseconds rather than seconds. Should the officer have waited for backup? In Siskiyou County would help have come in moments or hours at that time on Christmas? What was the relative risk of engagement versus inaction. How was the second victim shot? Officer missed? Bullets entered/exited perpetrator? Perpetrator had control of the weapon? Was the perpetrator high? Sometimes it takes many rounds to put down intoxicated persons because of the disruption to pain sensors. I’ll grant that the cop was trigger happy is certainly a possibility needing investigation, but in light of what little evidence we do have that theory seems less likely than certain others. It seems something went really bad during the attempt to force the man from the train. If the officer decided to use deadly force, he should have shot until the perpetrator ceased to be a threat. In any case, the fact is that we know next to nothing, and we should abstain from any rush to judgment about the merits of the case until facts are established.
Certainly, most of us would never want to be in the position of a police officer who must make life and death decisions within milliseconds. I don't envy their job in any way. As you say, the investigation will ultimately determine the answers to most if not all of these questions and perhaps if anything could have been handled differently.
I second waiting for the facts to come out.
Hopefully there are enough witnesses and a vibrant enough local press (not a guarantee nowadays) that the truth does find the light of day. I don’t want to be a conspiracy nut but I am also not naive enough to just take the police report, which is a shame it has come to that, but the truth in not always the official report either.
Multiple shots seem to be the current law enforcement practice. I am not in the law enforcement field and do not want to "Monday morning quarterback" the situation, but to me this makes no sense. I call it "spray and pray" shooting. That is multiple shots hoping that you manage to get a couple on target. In close quarters above all else, trying to avoid "Friendly fire" casualties would appear to be critical, therefore care in aim should be most important, and along with it minimize the number of shots fired.
