Be sure of your target and what is beyond it.

[austin-tatious]

Incident in Washington state:
Man shoots reflection.
http://www.kirotv.com/news/27625042/det ... _cntnt_rss

Note that the man "fired gunshots".

[Pug]

Crap. Another SEVEN years...

[baldeagle]

At least he hit what he was aiming at......

[WildBill]

Incident in Washington state:
Man shoots reflection. Note that the man "fired gunshots".

If he had killed himself would it be self defense or suicide?

[Teamless]

would it be self defense or suicide?

[Excaliber]

Incident in Washington state:
Man shoots reflection.
http://www.kirotv.com/news/27625042/det ... _cntnt_rss

Note that the man "fired gunshots".

A similar incident occurred many years ago when one of the officers I knew well was engaged in a tense search for a burglar in a very large, very well known department store. As he told me later, as he approached a potential hiding place, he caught a sudden movement in the periphery of his vision. When he turned toward that direction, he saw a figure clearly pointing a gun at him and he immediately responded with accurate defensive fire, which consisted of all 6 rounds in his revolver. (This isn't as silly as it sounds, because that store had very low levels of night time illumination and in many areas details were not generally visible until a flashlight was shined on them. )

That mirror in that case didn't survive either, and it took the officer a couple of seconds to realize what happened.

The incident itself was over in moments - the squad room commentary on it was not. He had a good run as the butt of other officers' banter until someone else committed a notable screwup that drew their daily fire.