Man's wife is subject of a carjacking in front of their house. Woman escapes. Man calls 911, saying car was stolen but rifle-toting robber may still be around. Man arms himself with a pistol. Police arrive, spotting the car in the driveway. Man opens garage, holding pistol.
And, somewhere after that, the man was shot by the police.
It's unclear at this point if it as "Hey, black guy with a gun at a carjacking" overreaction, or just a "Guy with a gun at a carjacking" tragedy. It's unclear whether the cops said anything or ordered the man to identify himself or lower the weapon, or if the man did something interpreted as threatening. The homeowner is still hospitalized, and the shooter is on administrative leave and consulting with his lawyer. But, as a police major said to the press:
'At Tuesday's press conference, when asked whether IMPD would recommend homeowners not protect themselves in a similar situation, Riddle said callers should use caution. "If you call 911, and you know the officers are on their way, clearly we have guns, and the last thing that we want to do is confront a legal owner of a firearm and a homeowner that's doing their best to protect their family," Riddle said.'
Questions surround IMPD officer’s shooting of homeowner
Police still don’t know what the nine-year IMPD veteran said, if anything, to the armed east-side homeowner before shooting him once in the stomach early Tuesday.
Wow! That's a whole lot of 'I don't knows.' Glad the guy survived the encounter. People need to think. Cop should've said something, although it's unclear whether he did or not, but homeowner should've definitely put the gun down when the cops arrived.
You want some grim reading, do a websearch on police raid wrong address. Hundreds of stories of police showing up to the wrong place and shooting people, and in at least some of them, the police busted in and the homeowner, thinking it was an invasion, shot one of the police. The few that don't get killed, get charged with attempted or actual murder.
+John Bump Yes. Happens with far too much regularity, and with nary an apology or "oops."
Because the glory of busting a hypothetical meth lab is far more important than double-checking an address (or double-checking an informant).
As I've said for decades, only call 911 if you are prepared for yourself or others to be murdered by the police. If you are okay with that, then please call 911.