I agree that it's relevant but would the police be aware of policy? Would they have been informed/had time to find out?
I dunno, but it seems they presumed the weapon came from outside. It doesn't seem an extensive attempt was made to ID the weapon. If they had reason to believe it was an air gun off the shelf, a closer examination of the weapon would reveal such. I'd guess the easiest place to look is the magazine, but someone trained to look for such would know other parts that would indicate such.
I would guess, by the store policy and the actions of the police, that there was a bad assumption made regarding the origin of the gun; an assumption that precluded a more vigorous attempt to ID the gun.
Did Walmart sell him that airgun? I didnt see that confirmed.
While it appears I am as uninformed about the event as you (see my earlier posts a bit above), my understanding is the gun was left out of the box, against policy that air guns be in boxes and wrapped.
While someone argued that keeping the air guns in boxes and wrapped is merely a matter of theft prevention, I think it's also obviously to prevent children from picking one up and playing with it.
So many different sub-events lead to the tragedy.
1. Someone picked up an air gun that should have been in a box and wrapped instead of open and inviting examination.
2. That someone was not a kid but an adult.
3. 911 calls were inaccurate.
3a. Acting aggressive (perhaps an understandable mis-perception)
3b. Loading the weapon. - This gives another reason to presume it's not an air gun.
4. When told to drop the weapon, the person seems to have suffered confusion.
Those and other things lead to a situation in which someone might have thought they were being (improperly) arrested for shoplifting when, in fact and reasonably, the cops were in fear of life.
So many things could have gone differently, throughout the course of sub-events, I don't get trying to blame the cops.