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Officer kills woman inside her Texas home after welfare call

mike2810 said:
Very sad event. Hopefully the investigation will find out exactly what happened and make recommendations for changes in police procedures.

I am also mad that the news media felt it was important to identify the race of the LEO and the victim. Seems the msm wants to keep racial tensions high. There is no mention that the LEO was influenced by the victims race. That is there is no evidence provided that the shooting was a "hate crime".
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Statistically speaking, race has a very strong influence on how dangerous someone is perceived as being.
 
Bum said:
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A black woman was fatally shot by a white Fort Worth, Texas, officer inside her home early Saturday after police were called to the residence for a welfare check, authorities said.

Officer kills woman inside her Texas home after welfare call

I dont even know what to say anymore...
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Why are they doing a "welfare check" at 0230 in the morning?

This is why I have a gated entrance to my property. I also have PTZ cameras covering the property. No surprises.

The police should be only able to return fire with rare exception.
 
mike2810 said:
Very sad event. Hopefully the investigation will find out exactly what happened and make recommendations for changes in police procedures.

I am also mad that the news media felt it was important to identify the race of the LEO and the victim. Seems the msm wants to keep racial tensions high. There is no mention that the LEO was influenced by the victims race. That is there is no evidence provided that the shooting was a "hate crime".
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Hell, that's the only reason it even made the news. Black cop shoots fill in ethnicity here and it would have went without mention.
 
Kiwimac said:
Even if there was a gun on the floor, isn't this Texas where you can have any number of guns? Or is that just for white folk?
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"White cop, non-white citizen", were the only facts needed. Just like the usual suspects in this thread expressing their outrage and don't know any more facts than that.
 
MovingPictures said:
Yeah, with police culture in this country it's becoming "oops, did we kill an innocent person? Oh well. We were in fear of our lives - something, something.".

Does it make anybody feel good that police culture promotes the idea that officers are allowed to shoot as a first response, then ask questions later?
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It doesn't make me feel good.

Some research suggests that administrative rules within the police department does effect the rate of unnecessary police shootings. IE: those that require the use tasers instead of guns have less police shootings and killings. Seems logical to me.
 
They sure got the drop on her, almost stealth like :shock:



Seems as though they had no intention of helping anybody there, they appear to be prowling like criminals(hunters).
 
Utility Man said:
They sure got the drop on her, almost stealth like :shock:



Seems as though they had no intention of helping anybody there, they appear to be prowling like criminals(hunters).
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That appeared to be less a welfare check and more in line with raid/recon/ambush.

I'll wait until the investigation is complete before voicing a verdict.
 
Moot said:
This is just maddening. How does one defend themselves from "shoot first, ask questions later"???

I'll tell ya, I'm going to think twice before calling the cops, that's for sure.
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I'm white, so I don't have to worry about it.
 
Bum said:
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A black woman was fatally shot by a white Fort Worth, Texas, officer inside her home early Saturday after police were called to the residence for a welfare check, authorities said.

Officer kills woman inside her Texas home after welfare call

I dont even know what to say anymore...
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Sad. There was a similar story a few years back in which a deputy was sent to a home when there was a 911 hang-up call and ended up shooting the elderly homeowner who was walking around outside her house with a shotgun.
 
PoS said:
I read in another article that the cops went to her house at 2:30 in the morning. Why would they do a welfare check at such a late hour?
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A neighbor called because he front door was ajar.
 
PirateMk1 said:
Why are they doing a "welfare check" at 0230 in the morning?

This is why I have a gated entrance to my property. I also have PTZ cameras covering the property. No surprises.

The police should be only able to return fire with rare exception.
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If they are alive to return fire.
 
Moot said:
That's true.

Perhaps emergency operators could do a better of job of getting and relaying information to the responding officers before they get there. A lot of these tragedies seem to boil down to lack of communication between the person taking the emergency call and the responding officers...imo.
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the shooting of a black man who was carrying an air rifle at a box store in the Dayton area several years ago was most likely due to the person who called 911 and made the situation sound far more dangerous than it actually was
 
TurtleDude said:
Clearly an awful tragedy but the entire set of facts are not known yet. The brief report claims there was a gun found. Was it in the slain woman's hand? Did she point it at the officer? Did the officer panic or did he reasonably believe she was a threat? Too many questions need to be answered before this obvious tragedy can be further categorized.

Cops are put in tough positions. When Private citizens use force, it is almost always after they have been attacked. So the cases of private citizens who legitimately use deadly force, but shoot an innocent person are lower than the cases of cops shooting innocents. But the environment is different. Cops are tasked with looking for dangerous people. And its a tough position. If someone you think is a criminal confronts you, the amount of time you have to ascertain whether they are armed or not is under a couple seconds. If you wait too long, you may be shot. If you shoot too quickly, you might well injure or kill an innocent. A guy reaching for his wallet was shot 40+ times in NYC years ago. A young man with traffic tickets was chased by a Cincinnati cop who had been erroneously told that the young miscreant had EIGHTEEN WARRANTS (warrants mean felonies). So when the young man-after being cornered by the cop, reached down to pull up his sagging shorts-the police officer shot him fatally.

Sadly, these sort of tragedies are hard to prevent.
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That (bolded above) makes the assumption that the police are always[/i[ responding to a crime in progress and thus a "perp" is, in fact, present wherever they are "responding". This apparently was not the case in this instance, and the only people present inside that house were its occupants who were subjected to a "welfare check". How, exactly, was a person inside of their own home who *gasp* left the door open deemed to have been "posing a threat"?
 
Outlook said:
If the officer is white, I wonder if the media will play up the race card and then blame Trump, because after all he is a racist.
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Another hypothesized right wing victim card.
 
PoS said:
I read in another article that the cops went to her house at 2:30 in the morning. Why would they do a welfare check at such a late hour?
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Probably because the call for a "welfare check" came in at that time - nosy neighbor was apparently 'concerned' about *gasp* seeing an open door.
 
I am not making a judgment on this shooting based on what the sparse facts are now other than saying it is obviously a tragedy,. I would suggest that those who have never experienced a "live fire" house or "shoot/no shoot" "Hogan's Alley" training scenarios, go through one or two if you can and then see how that changes your perspective on these issues.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
That (bolded above) makes the assumption that the police are always[/i[ responding to a crime in progress and thus a "perp" is, in fact, present wherever they are "responding". This apparently was not the case in this instance, and the only people present inside that house were its occupants who were subjected to a "welfare check". How, exactly, was a person inside of their own home who *gasp* left the door open deemed to have been "posing a threat"?
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At 2:30 am it look like a possible breaking and entering the neighbor was alarmed an called the police.
 
rjay said:
What kind of training is done in the U.S. for police officers? ~
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The evidence is in the video at first glance. I don't see him identify himself as a policeman, he's gone in on a welfare check with gun drawn as his first response to a situation. In other western countries police get called to similar situations all the time but the first response is not to go in ready and willing to shoot to death.

TurtleDude said:
~ I honestly don't know the answer to how to stop such tragedies ~
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If it turns out an innocent woman was killed unlawfully it will simply be another example of how horrible the training of US police actually is. Too many people still thinking they live in the Wild West and that "shoot first, ask questions later" is an acceptable form of policing.

gulfman said:
Did they find the welfare check?
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Repulsive comment.
 
More and more the police in this country look at their fellow citizens as enemies, not people they suppose to be protecting.
 
Kiwimac said:
Even if there was a gun on the floor, isn't this Texas where you can have any number of guns? Or is that just for white folk?
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They are trying to protect the officer and department - under the premise that if he felt threatened, he can shoot. It tries to justify the shooting because the woman was a legitimate threat. Of course, with no mention of her actually holding the weapon, that loses some steam.

Given the situation though - the woman in her own home - that doesn't (or at least shouldn't) fly. You are right, she absolutely can have a firearm in her home. And in this case, I think she absolutely would have been justified in shooting the officer. He didn't even try to identify himself. At 2 in the morning a figure in all black is sneaking through your yard with a gun, then points that gun and starts screaming at you? Slam dunk self defense. The officer is very fortunate.

I agree with those stating the officer should have used more discretion. They have to be aware of the situation, and act accordingly. With a simple welfare check, the officer should have approached (with backup) well aware that a resident could be present, and only shoot when absolutely necessary. There was no mention of an armed suspect. They weren't serving a warrant or pursuing a fugitive. They were checking on an open door.

This is the result of poor training and other factors. We've got to train and support our officers better.
 
SLC said:
At 2:30 am it look like a possible breaking and entering the neighbor was alarmed an called the police.
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It was also possibly a let the dog out, take the trash out or simply let fresh air in "situation" as the reason for an open door with interior lights on inside of the home. It was precisely that "level of alarm" which got a person shot for *gasp* looking out of their window (while armed?) in response to seeing someone shining a flashlight into their home at 2:30 AM.

Not once in the body cam video did anyone identify themselves as a police officer responding to a "possible crime in progress" call. The responding police officer(s) seemed very sure that there was (only?) a "bad guy/gal" inside that home and the (only?) proper response was to suddenly yell "show me your hands" and then shoot them out of "reasonable fear" for their life. It never occurred to that police officer that a homeowner/occupant would *gasp* look out the window in response to someone shining a flashlight into their home at 2:30 AM - that was clearly the act of a desperate criminal intent on doing great harm to a police officer.
 
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mike2810 said:
Very sad event. Hopefully the investigation will find out exactly what happened and make recommendations for changes in police procedures.

I am also mad that the news media felt it was important to identify the race of the LEO and the victim. Seems the msm wants to keep racial tensions high. There is no mention that the LEO was influenced by the victims race. That is there is no evidence provided that the shooting was a "hate crime".
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Considering the racism present and very evident in the USA, it is important to specify the race of the victim and officer imo.

I think it's time conservatives started accepting responsibility for their actions, let's not forget, they elected a POTUS whose primary campaign strategy is using racial fear to motivate his base.

Trump’s Midterm Closing Argument: Pure Racial Fear

Trump and G.O.P. Candidates Escalate Race and Fear as Election Ploys
 
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