I was reading this morning about an off-duty police officer who returned home, found things with his house were not as they should be - doors were locked that hadn’t been locked before.
He ended up shooting his own son in the arm because he thought it was an intruder.
The article leaves out a lot of information that could help readers make an informed decision on whether the cop was culpable or not.
We may infer from “no charges are expected to be filed” that the police had no problem with the shooting, but…this did happen in Texas.
I’d like to know more.
Did the cop turn on all the lights, see a movement and shoot first without recognizing his son?
Or did he wander around with the lights off, see a movement and shoot first without being able to recognize who he was shooting at?
In this instance, since the shooting didn’t result in death perhaps the news coverage won’t elaborate in future articles just how the cop went about securing his home, but it would be interesting to keep track of how news media does cover these types of home shootings in future.
And should an experienced cop be held to a higher standard than an armed citizen, in going through a house and not accidentally shooting one’s relative?
But - if the article was accurate - the investigation is complete, and they weren’t going to file any charges.
I have been involved, in other threads, in a discussion of the news media and whether or not it is biased.
There’s the bias that they definitely have of not calling illegal aliens what they are, for example, but rather “undocumented immigrants” or worse, just “immigrants.”
Is it a stretch to say that there’s a bias in certain states with very active 2nd amendment citizens that the news media don’t/won’t give all the details of such shootings - when they involved family members and didn’t result in a fatality? Anything to not make it look like the shooter was an idiot?
Zantax - I did’n’t reference his “copness” as a dig against cops. In this instance he was not acting as a cop but rather as a homeowner.
But, as a cop, in my opinion, he should have had the training and the ability to not have accidentally shot his son.
WildRose has provided citations to me in another thread pointing out that trained police are just as incompetent as civilians in keeping their guns safe from family members and shooting themselves and others accidentlaly.
And while I support the police (this must always be stated in a thread in which an individual officer is criticized) the fact that a 12-year veteran couldn’t secure his property without ending up shooting his own son is rather disturbing.
