Fly4Fun;1810999 wrote:A tragic story, but from the initial reports it sounds like a justified shooting.
Sadly, yes and yes.
Benny The Jet;1811014 wrote:My initial thought was...who mounts a laser scope on a BB gun?
The first words out of my mouth when I saw the story on NBC4 in Columbus. And can you imagine what that looks like to a cop trying to arrest someone?
An unashamedly redneck FB friend of mine in Fairfield County posted on Facebook how he was "staying out of that neighborhood tonight", as if he would regularly go there anyway. Then he said, "Guaranteed, the looters and window-breakers will be out tonight!". I rolled my eyes. You can tell he's stayed outside of Franklin County quite a while, which is probably a good thing.
On the other side of the coin, my wife's cousin, who is black, has been posting on Facebook from the black community perspective. The fact that the kid had a realistic looking gun, with a laser, as a suspect in a robbery, is NOT being emphasized. Instead, it's is age, and the alleged possibility that he was shot in the back while running away.
I'm certainly not qualified to speak for the average black American, but IMHO the Columbus black community in their heart of hearts know that the kid (and those that influenced him in some things) brought it on himself, and that the policeman's actions, no matter how many claims of "murder" are bandied about, were justified (although, as other posters already mentioned, folks are asking why the cop couldn't just shoot to wound the kid and disarm him - 'nuff said on that).
Naturally there have already been vigils, posters of remembrance, calls for a hearing, but pretty much pro forma stuff for venting. Nobody is going to burn this mother down for the time being.
On my wife cousin's FB post, some of her black friends had the guts to say that, while they were horrified a black youth was killed by the police, they understood why the cop did what he did and recognized there others who bear responsibility for the kid being in that situation. The fact that their remarks were not castigated by others is telling.