Elderly woman shot by police after calling 911

[RPB]

Sep 26, 2012 - 4 hours ago

83-year-old woman was shot and killed by police as she walked through her back yard after calling 911 to report to someone trying to break into her home.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/333608" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Teamless]

"She's had intruders around there before. She heard some noise and she thought it was somebody out there trying to break in and she shot two or three bullets."

The Virginia State Police stated the Altavista officers took cover upon hearing the gun shots and then saw Towlers leave the back of the house. The officers approached Towlers and ordered her to drop the weapon several times. She refused their commands and pointed the gun at officers. One of the officers then fired his weapon, striking Towlers.

KSEE reports that the elderly woman was not wearing her glassed or hearing aid at the time and may not have heard or recognized the officers.

So she didn't have her glasses or hearing aid on, yet she shot 2 or 3 shots, and unlucky for her, it was as the cops had arrived. They heard it, and did what they needed to do, by ordering her to drop the gun.
How are they to know she is the good guy?

More reasons NOT to shoot warning shots.

I feel bad that she was killed, but in what I read, I cannot fault the cops either.

[SRH78]

It is a very sad outcome and I actually feel bad for the officer who has to live with knowing he fired that shot but I have a hard time faulting him for it. If I pointed a firearm at police, I would certainly expect them to respond with gunfire.

[JJVP]

"She's had intruders around there before. She heard some noise and she thought it was somebody out there trying to break in and she shot two or three bullets."

The Virginia State Police stated the Altavista officers took cover upon hearing the gun shots and then saw Towlers leave the back of the house. The officers approached Towlers and ordered her to drop the weapon several times. She refused their commands and pointed the gun at officers. One of the officers then fired his weapon, striking Towlers.

KSEE reports that the elderly woman was not wearing her glassed or hearing aid at the time and may not have heard or recognized the officers.

So she didn't have her glasses or hearing aid on, yet she shot 2 or 3 shots, and unlucky for her, it was as the cops had arrived. They heard it, and did what they needed to do, by ordering her to drop the gun.
How are they to know she is the good guy?

More reasons NOT to shoot warning shots.

I feel bad that she was killed, but in what I read, I cannot fault the cops either.

How do we know she was firing warning shots? Maybe she thought she saw someone and was trying to shoot them.

[barstoolguru]

she violated all the basic rules of protecting the home. She went after the BG, she had a gun in her hands AFTER calling the cops and was shooting at who knows what, she wasn't on the ph with 911 while waiting for the cops to ID her as a GG

[barstoolguru]

How do we know she was firing warning shots? Maybe she thought she saw someone and was trying to shoot them.

she can't ID two cops telling her to put a gun down, she had no business shooting at anything.

[Teamless]

How do we know she was firing warning shots?

You are absolutely right, I did "assume" that.

However, as a learning experience it IS a good reason, NOT to fire warning shots. Look what her shots (warning or not) cost her!

[Keith B]

How do we know she was firing warning shots?

You are absolutely right, I did "assume" that.

However, as a learning experience it IS a good reason, NOT to fire warning shots. Look what her shots (warning or not) cost her!

I am not sure that her shots were as much of an issue as just the fact she wouldn't put the gun down after being directed to.

[beefmobile]

How do you recognize a LEO with that flashlight shining in your eyes?

By them saying "POLICE! Put the weapon down!"

Who cares if she didn't have her glasses or hearing aids. If she refused to drop the weapon, that means somebody told her to do so. Certainly they prefaced their command with "POLICE!"

[Keith B]

How do you recognize a LEO with that flashlight shining in your eyes?

We don't know all the details on this, but the best way is to stay in your house after you called the police. Unfortunately it may be that she felt that she was in danger in the house, so went out the back to try to distance herself from the threat and ran into the officers. Just a bad situation all around.

[beefmobile]

How do you recognize a LEO with that flashlight shining in your eyes?

By them saying "POLICE! Put the weapon down!"

Who cares if she didn't have her glasses or hearing aids. If she refused to drop the weapon, that means somebody told her to do so. Certainly they prefaced their command with "POLICE!"

If I was a burglar, you can bet I would be shouting "police, drop the weapon!".

If i was a burglar, i wouldn't stick around after the cops showed up and 3 shots had been fired. She's was on a roll of poor decisions, and walking around her back yard firing off a gun while police were on their way didn't help. Not to mention, the cops DID show up...and yelled "POLICE! DROP THE WEAPON!".....ya that seems like a great idea...let's shoot those guys.

[Oldgringo]

This stinks to the high heavens! Stay tuned.

[VMI77]

Yep, we don't know. May have happened just like it was reported, or may not. Certainly it seems like a poor decision on her part to go outside. Both times I've been called to jury duty in the past few years, the DA has told the jury pool that the police don't always tell the truth. I believe the DA. So, another possibility is that the police shot her by accident and they made up the story about identifying themselves and telling her to drop her weapon to justify the shooting. In what may be a small number of such incidents that actually get reported, we often discover that the official version plays fast and loose with the truth, so while it may have happened just like the police say in this case, I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't.