Teen Gunned Down by Police for Answering Door with WiiMote

[Blasted Craigs]

This is just stupid. Even if the guy was holding a real gun she had no right to shoot him. Because she failed to identify herself as a police officer. There's no law that states you can't answer the door with your gun in your hand, now I could see why the police would be different but really if we're to believe the reports then he didn't know she was a cop.

This is manslaughter. Of the very stupid kind.

Right....the kid was stupid for answering his own door without putting his controller down....
Maybe I am misunderstanding you, but I hope you are not suggesting the kid brought his death on himself for answering the door with a game controller?
Hell, I guess that is a new lesson to teach our kids these days, to add to the list...
List of current needed lessons to teach your kids to help them survive...
1)Never, never talk to someone with a controller in hand. You might get killed.
2)Never, never wear a hoodie. You might get killed.
3)Never, never keep walking when a voice tells you to stop from somewhere in the dark at night. You might get killed.
4)Never, never listen to your music too loud, or at all in fact. You might get killed.
5)Never, never stand in a place too long. You might get killed.
...........
Bottom line, never, NEVER leave home until you are 25. You might get killed.

Honestly, I am sick and tired of people blaming the victim when a psycho kills a kid, claiming said psycho was...ahem...scared for their life and "we do not know the whole story." When any one questions why the killer shot the kid, we do not know the whole story. When one tries to say the kid deserves justice, suddenly all the facts are known and the kid was a thug that deserved it. Hell, there was one post I saw on one of the websites that claimed the cop was legit because the shooting happened in a bad area. I realize you said the cop was wrong, but honestly, I don't see how answering a door holding your game controller makes you "stupid."

[The Alma Mater]

This is just stupid. Even if the guy was holding a real gun she had no right to shoot him. Because she failed to identify herself as a police officer. There's no law that states you can't answer the door with your gun in your hand, now I could see why the police would be different but really if we're to believe the reports then he didn't know she was a cop.

This is manslaughter. Of the very stupid kind.

Right....the kid was stupid for answering his own door without putting his controller down....
Maybe I am misunderstanding you, but I hope you are not suggesting the kid brought his death on himself for answering the door with a game controller?

He extremely clearly calls the police-officer, not the kid, stupid.

[Blasted Craigs]

Right....the kid was stupid for answering his own door without putting his controller down....
Maybe I am misunderstanding you, but I hope you are not suggesting the kid brought his death on himself for answering the door with a game controller?

He extremely clearly calls the police-officer, not the kid, stupid.

Damn.....
I misread the last sentence as ending with "kid"...not "kind"....
I guess that is my selective eyesight at work.
But, my attitude to the people that blame the kid is still true, however. But I was wrong and misread the comment.

[The Rich Port]

... Jesus fucking Christ.

[Arkinesia]

The officer involved had been fired from her last job due to numerous bad marks on her record.

(incidentally I really like 11Alive with regards to Atlanta-area news, if you don't live there and Atlanta news interests you, I'd recommend frequenting their site)

It appears that this officer has a history of trigger happiness and thus an incident like this was a matter of time.

[Belzia]

The officer involved had been fired from her last job due to numerous bad marks on her record.

(incidentally I really like 11Alive with regards to Atlanta-area news, if you don't live there and Atlanta news interests you, I'd recommend frequenting their site)

It appears that this officer has a history of trigger happiness and thus an incident like this was a matter of time.

not a big surprise really.

[The Mizarian Empire]

The officer involved had been fired from her last job due to numerous bad marks on her record.

(incidentally I really like 11Alive with regards to Atlanta-area news, if you don't live there and Atlanta news interests you, I'd recommend frequenting their site)

It appears that this officer has a history of trigger happiness and thus an incident like this was a matter of time.

I think what terrifies and sickens me more than anything about this situation is that the woman was allowed to be issued a sidearm and put on patrol. My sickness stems from the fact that it would've taken nothing more than decent background check and cross-exam of her former employment to see this woman is a danger not just to herself, but everyone around her as an officer.

She opened fire on a man reaching towards his backpack because she believed he was going for a gun (although other articles along with that one suggest they had reason to believe someone there was armed).

She was in four seperate car crashes In 2 years

She was reprimanded for handing her sidearm and other tools to a civilian while she had her photo taken

She was reprimanded for FAILURE TO FOLLOW ORDERS. I'm sorry but even if this isn't the military, they're gonna fry you if you essentially tell your superiors "I don't give a fuck"

This literally makes me sick to my stomach to see such gross incompetence not just from an officer of the law, but from the board that HIRED her.

[The Rich Port]

The officer involved had been fired from her last job due to numerous bad marks on her record.

(incidentally I really like 11Alive with regards to Atlanta-area news, if you don't live there and Atlanta news interests you, I'd recommend frequenting their site)

It appears that this officer has a history of trigger happiness and thus an incident like this was a matter of time.

I could have told you she would end up a murderer some day in her life.

Look at her EYES.

[Imperial Flock]

Why do these whack jobs enlist in the police force? I know there's only a few bad apples in the bunch, but some people can't use a firearm properly.

[Free Tristania]

The officer involved had been fired from her last job due to numerous bad marks on her record.

(incidentally I really like 11Alive with regards to Atlanta-area news, if you don't live there and Atlanta news interests you, I'd recommend frequenting their site)

It appears that this officer has a history of trigger happiness and thus an incident like this was a matter of time.

I am not surprised at all.

[SaintB]

Being a teenager he was obviously planning on bludgeoning her with the Wiimote and she had no alternative but lethal force. We all know that teenage boys are nothing more than violent testosterone fueled thugs who attack without provocation. The only recourse when faced with a teenage male is to shoot to kill, or they will snap and murder you into so many dead pieces of murdered ex-you just like an angry chimpanzee.

[Ifreann]

Why do these whack jobs enlist in the police force? I know there's only a few bad apples in the bunch, but some people can't use a firearm properly.

This officer seems to have managed to use hers just fine.

[SaintB]

Why do these whack jobs enlist in the police force? I know there's only a few bad apples in the bunch, but some people can't use a firearm properly.

This officer seems to have managed to use hers just fine.

What they failed to manage to use was judgement.

[Ifreann]

This officer seems to have managed to use hers just fine.

What they failed to manage to use was judgement.

That remains to be seen.

[Polocatfan]

Oh right I saw this story before. We still don't technically know if the teen had a wiimote. I assume he did though because who would go up to the door with a gun? Especially if he was a teenager?

[CTALNH]

What is this world coming to!

I am pretty sure nothing has changed.The world was already this shitty before the kid got shot.

[The Rich Port]

Why do these whack jobs enlist in the police force? I know there's only a few bad apples in the bunch, but some people can't use a firearm properly.

This officer seems to have managed to use hers just fine.

Part of using a gun is knowing when to shoot and where.

They should not let trigger-happy rookies on point.

[Gravlen]

This officer seems to have managed to use hers just fine.

Part of using a gun is knowing when to shoot and where.

They should not let trigger-happy rookies on point.

I don't see anything to suggest she's trigger happy. Not even the one incident in question where she fired her service weapon in 2008, where IA cleared her of wrongdoing.

[Ifreann]

This officer seems to have managed to use hers just fine.

Part of using a gun is knowing when to shoot and where.

Maybe gun safety instructors tell people that, but one does not, in fact, require any such knowledge in order to operate a firearm.

[Ningirsu]

Why did she knock on the door with her weapon pointed at it, finger on the trigger? If she was there for a "probation" matter, I seriously cannot imagine any scenario that would require her to be at the ready for a firefight. I could understand her mistaking the wii-mote for a gun if they were serving a warrant on the place or responding to some kind of disturbance, but straight popping a guy answering the door is beyond stupid.

I wasn't there and I'm not involved in the investigation, though, so I can only speculate as to the actual events in the incident.

[Ifreann]

Why did she knock on the door with her weapon pointed at it, finger on the trigger?

Did she?

If she was there for a "probation" matter, I seriously cannot imagine any scenario that would require her to be at the ready for a firefight.

Because she was there to arrest someone.

I could understand her mistaking the wii-mote for a gun if they were serving a warrant on the place or responding to some kind of disturbance, but straight popping a guy answering the door is beyond stupid.

She was serving a warrant.

[Ningirsu]

Did she?

...to his shock, the female cop already had her gun drawn and pointed at him...

According to the cited report in the OP, yes. If that report was already found to be inaccurate in this thread, my mistake, I just got here.

Because she was there to arrest someone.

I'm going to have to devolve to anecdotal evidence on this one, so bear with me. Two parts:
1. My father is a police officer. A large portion of my family is police officers. In my world view and bias, there are a limited set of circumstances where a police officer should have their weapon drawn. Assuming (I haven't seen any evidence to support this, but once again, I just got here so you probably know more than me) that they were going to make an arrest due to a probation violation, I seriously doubt that there would be a need to have your weapon drawn in the first place.
2. Second weapons safety rule is, "Never point a weapon at anything you do not intend to shoot." Third weapons safety rule is, "keep your finger straight and off the trigger until you're ready to fire." Fourth weapons safety rule is, "keep your weapon on safe until you intend to fire," but I'm going to ignore the fourth one because some pistols do not come with safeties. Even if there was a reason in her mind to have her weapon drawn for what appeared to be a minor incident without any escalation of force:

To his shock, the female cop already had her gun drawn and pointed at him, according to reports. She immediately fired a bullet into the boy’s chest and killed him, according to Renee Vance, the boy’s aunt.

Granted, this could be a sensationalist account to paint the police officer as an unprofessional, trigger happy killer, and the report that described the officer has having her gun drawn and aimed already is not cited. However, coming to a door with your weapon raised is also in violation of the fifth weapons safety rule, "know your target and what lies beyond," regardless of whether your serving a warrant, making an arrest, or checking on the house of a probationer/probation violator. Even if, let's say, the boy came to the door without a wii remote, or hadn't even opened it yet, and she negligently discharged her pistol, it could've gone through the door and killed him and the story would be the exact same. Whether she overreacted to the remote is another story, but as far as I can tell she was being negligent to the point of recklessness with her loaded weapon.

She was serving a warrant.

OP claims it was regarding a probation matter. That may have been corrected, but there is no way I'm going through 34 pages to figure that out.

I just got here, and was stating an opinion. If I'm factually incorrect about something, I encourage you to correct me and show me how I'm wrong. Responding to my post with two word critiques lacking hard evidence isn't helping your case or furthering a debate.

[Viritica]

The officer involved had been fired from her last job due to numerous bad marks on her record.

(incidentally I really like 11Alive with regards to Atlanta-area news, if you don't live there and Atlanta news interests you, I'd recommend frequenting their site)

It appears that this officer has a history of trigger happiness and thus an incident like this was a matter of time.

She's a bad officer. Big surprise.