FL: LEO Shooting

Two Florida deputies answered a call of a suicidal man with a firearm. He opens the door with a cell phone in one hand and the door knob in the other. Tucked under one arm was a .30 cal. carbine. The deputies opened fire shooting the man in the head. Below is a quote from the Sheriff's Department's press release printed in a local paper.

The sheriff's office issued a release March 4 that said, "deputies ordered Adkins to put the weapon down, Adkins refused and fired one shot striking a ballistic shield that a PBSO deputy was holding."

But on Thursday, Stormes said the deputies saw Adkins' doorknob turn as they approached his apartment through a long hallway and "when the door opened, they immediately saw a firearm." They started shooting when they saw Adkins begin to raise the rifle, Stormes said.

The deputies claimed they ordered the man to drop the gun and returned fire when he shot at them. One deputy was struck in his vest. Ballistics showed the bullet that hit the deputy was another officer's. The man didn't fire.

I wasn't there. The man didn't fire. By this account the man could not have fired the way he was carrying the rifle. The officer's did. I don't know what happened, but I do know this. A young officer on edge, adrenalin rushing, who sees a suspect with a gun is not very likely to wait long, if at all, between the challenge and the bang. And memory plays tricks on you once the shooting starts. That's based not on personal experience but on conversations with officers who have been in officer involved shootings. What they remember is very seldom what actually happened. In an officer involved shooting, probably any shooting, no one knows what actually happened until the the investigation is complete. I won't say these officers lied, but that's all the slack I'll cut them. The officers were wrong, and should be held accountable.

H/T to David