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This was a tragic situation with both sides making critical mistakes. I can understand the homeowner seeing deputies arriving and thinking everything was okay. He quite possibly didn't even realize he had a gun in his hand as hand because higher order thinking is suppressed during flight-or-fight situations. Even if he did, under this high stress situation, he would be less likely to appreciate the fact that the arriving deputies would not immediately know he was the homeowner as opposed to the burglar he had reported was trying to enter the home.

The officer saying "show me your hands" is not at all surprising. This is a phrase that is drilled into every cadet in the police academy. Under stress, it easy to revert back to training even when issuing verbal commands. I won't mention the agency but a cadet doing computerized shoot-no-shoot drills that were video recorded faced a scenario with a man holding a baby and a knife while threatening to kill the baby. The cadet held his gun on the man and repeated screamed "drop the baby, drop the baby." When the scenario was over, he wouldn't believe he said that until he watched the video.

Higher order thinking along with fine motor skills melt away when the physiological responses of "fight-or-flight" take over. These facts are stressed in tactical training and it's something every gun owner needs to understand, study and train.

This was a tragedy for all concerned.

Chas.