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And I witnessed a suicidal guy walking around Portland at 5am holding a gun to his head. The police surrounded him on three sides, wearing bullet-proof armor an

And I witnessed a suicidal guy walking around Portland at 5am holding a gun to his head. The police surrounded him on three sides, wearing bullet-proof armor and hiding behind large armored vehicles and even had snipers in the parking lot across the street. They seemed pretty secure in their positions and decked out with heavy weaponry from a safe distance. He had a small 6-shooter and was walking in circles. They called out to him to drop his gun, to which he replied that he needed help (they wouldn't admit him to the hospital for mental care because he couldn't afford it). He pointed the gun towards the ground and fired, upon which they shot him multiple times from multiple positions. Don't they have people trained in psychology to deescalate such situations? Or is that just a movie trope? Even if wanted to shoot a cop, from my vantage point, there was no way he would have hit any of them. In the end it was labeled a police-assisted suicide i.e. he still shot himself and the police have 0% responsibility. The irony is that at the same time across town, the police chief of Portland was giving a conference about how the police will use less deadly force in such encounters in the future (because this wasn't the first time).

JoeAltmaier 9y ago
Shoot pretty much any direction in a busy city, and hit somebody. He was a loose cannon, aiming a deadly weapon irresponsibly. It can be argued, he had to be taken down. Cruel, but when people put themselves in that position something has to be done, and quickly. Not clear why a sleeping dart couldn't have been used though. Animal control does a pretty good job in such situations.
- glenneroo 9y ago
  I should have mentioned, the police cordoned off the entire block with tape and there were armed police on every street. The police were also yelling through the megaphone. Nobody was on the street and nobody was leaving their houses in that climate. The parking lot was 99% empty. As mentioned, he shot the ground directly in front of himself. Once. And as mentioned elsewhere here, German police would in that case shoot e.g. a leg to disable the threat, not aim to kill. Someone gave the kill order and a lot of shots were fired. Of course your suggestion to use a sleeping dart (or something similar) would be ideal. On top of all that but less relevant to this thread, they left the body uncovered on the street until late in the afternoon, approx. 8 hours. I took a lot of pictures of the entire thing (starting after the shooting, because I was afraid the police might think I had a gun too with my huge black camera with telephoto lens).
  - jsjohnst 9y ago
    > Someone gave the kill order and a lot of shots were fired. I honestly don’t believe anyone gave a kill order, I rather feel (maybe not fairly) that police had guns trained on him and heard gun fire and instinctively pulled without even taking a second to analyze situation. If I’m right (good video footage could help prove the theory), this should scare everyone (but likely won’t).
    - blattimwind 9y ago
      So if someone throws a firecracker near an active US police situation all the officers are just going to open fire on whatever is in front of their gun barrels?
      - jsjohnst 9y ago
        I probably shouldn’t have been that vague, knew I was leaving myself open to whataboutism / trolling. Here’s a bit more specific version: “If a police officer hears and sees the perp’s gun go off, they likely won’t stop to think even long enough to see who got shot, but likely instinctively pull to neutralize the threat.” In most places outside the US, they’d aim for legs / arms as that would “neutralize” but not “kill”. In this scenario they’ve got snipers trained on him after all, no excuses about handgun accuracy. Yet in the US, you’ll virtually never see that, all shots will be into the chest.
- kazagistar 9y ago
  They disn't use sleeping darts because the police are also loose cannons aiming deadly weapons irresponsibly, as we can see time and time again.

JoeAltmaier 9y ago

Shoot pretty much any direction in a busy city, and hit somebody. He was a loose cannon, aiming a deadly weapon irresponsibly. It can be argued, he had to be taken down. Cruel, but when people put themselves in that position something has to be done, and quickly. Not clear why a sleeping dart couldn't have been used though. Animal control does a pretty good job in such situations.

glenneroo 9y ago
I should have mentioned, the police cordoned off the entire block with tape and there were armed police on every street. The police were also yelling through the megaphone. Nobody was on the street and nobody was leaving their houses in that climate. The parking lot was 99% empty. As mentioned, he shot the ground directly in front of himself. Once. And as mentioned elsewhere here, German police would in that case shoot e.g. a leg to disable the threat, not aim to kill. Someone gave the kill order and a lot of shots were fired. Of course your suggestion to use a sleeping dart (or something similar) would be ideal. On top of all that but less relevant to this thread, they left the body uncovered on the street until late in the afternoon, approx. 8 hours. I took a lot of pictures of the entire thing (starting after the shooting, because I was afraid the police might think I had a gun too with my huge black camera with telephoto lens).
- jsjohnst 9y ago
  > Someone gave the kill order and a lot of shots were fired. I honestly don’t believe anyone gave a kill order, I rather feel (maybe not fairly) that police had guns trained on him and heard gun fire and instinctively pulled without even taking a second to analyze situation. If I’m right (good video footage could help prove the theory), this should scare everyone (but likely won’t).
  - blattimwind 9y ago
    So if someone throws a firecracker near an active US police situation all the officers are just going to open fire on whatever is in front of their gun barrels?
    - jsjohnst 9y ago
      I probably shouldn’t have been that vague, knew I was leaving myself open to whataboutism / trolling. Here’s a bit more specific version: “If a police officer hears and sees the perp’s gun go off, they likely won’t stop to think even long enough to see who got shot, but likely instinctively pull to neutralize the threat.” In most places outside the US, they’d aim for legs / arms as that would “neutralize” but not “kill”. In this scenario they’ve got snipers trained on him after all, no excuses about handgun accuracy. Yet in the US, you’ll virtually never see that, all shots will be into the chest.
kazagistar 9y ago
They disn't use sleeping darts because the police are also loose cannons aiming deadly weapons irresponsibly, as we can see time and time again.