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RicoTX wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2019 7:58 pm I agree with many comments here, and it's a good reminder to everyone to take precautions when answering the door anytime. That officer should be held to the same rules that you or I would be. He should be prosecuted on my opinion. He's lucky there wasn't another person with a gun in the house, because they may have decided his uniform meant nothing, and I wouldn't blame them.

I will say that if someone shot through my door, they better hope I fall down and can't shoot back. Otherwise they are in for one heck of a firefight.

Excaliber wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2019 10:58 am

Rob72 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2019 8:43 am

Excaliber wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2019 7:08 am One important element is missing from the story:

Did the dispatcher tell the deputy the alarm was a medical alert or was the call just dispatched as "an alarm?"

The wording of the dispatch will make a big difference in how the officer approaches, what he is prepared to see, and how he is primed to respond.

From experience: if you take Dispatch as gospel, you ain't too bright.

For the homeowner- never, never, never ever place yourself so that you're back lighted.

Dispatch's wording, while not taken as gospel, does create expectations and predispositions. I suspect this played a role here.

Not backlighting yourself while approaching a front door with transparent side glass is more easily said than done. The inside of a home is seldom fully dark and the light spilling in from the porch light would have been enough to easily see the homeowner as he came to the door.

The fact that the officer stated the homeowner opened the door and pointed a gun at him is indefensible. That clearly didn't happen.

I don't see anything else in the circumstances that would justify the officer's decision to shoot.

OneGun wrote: ↑Tue Jul 30, 2019 4:51 pm

03Lightningrocks wrote: ↑Tue Jul 30, 2019 4:18 pm I am not sure I understand. Did the guy point his gun at the cop from behind the closed door? It seems a bad idea to answer the door with your gun pointed at it. I can understand being armed and ready if needed but "striking a pose" seems like a good way to shoot an innocent person knocking on the door.

I never heard the deputy announce he was the police. From the homeowner's perspective, there is a person outside his house at midnight shining a flashlight into the house. The homeowner has a good case against the deputy. The deputy on the other hand has a problem because his initial story was that the homeowner opened his door and pointed a gun, which did not happen.