There was no SWAT, only police. Pointing a gun is a deadly threat and it's hard to believe (assuming this was a real hostage situation) he couldn't make out ev

There was no SWAT, only police. Pointing a gun is a deadly threat and it's hard to believe (assuming this was a real hostage situation) he couldn't make out even one outline of a human to take aim at. The police thought they were at the scene of a murder/hostage situation. They weren't just protecting their own lives, they were there to protect the life of the hostage from somebody who they believed had committed murder just minutes before. Given ten minutes to think about the situation maybe the officer who fired the shot would take a different course of action. But he didn't have ten minutes, he had half a second.