If the police came to your door, would you come with a gun in hand?

[unicorn]

A family of a deceased airman is suing because a sheriff's deputy shot him while answering the call. At first, it sounds pretty bad, but then on reviewing the deputy's body camera, the deputy can be heard screaming twice "Sheriff's office. Open the door!", and it clearly shows the late airman with a gun/pistol in his right hand. I don't know what the police policies are, and it may be the case that the deputy is mostly culpable, but is there a single member on this forum who'd state that if he were answering the door to someone who identified himself as coming from the sheriff's department, he'd come with a gun in his hand? The relevant footage starts at 3:40:

 

[KeepItReal]

53 minutes ago, unicorn said:

A family of a deceased airman is suing because a sheriff's deputy shot him while answering the call. At first, it sounds pretty bad, but then on reviewing the deputy's body camera, the deputy can be heard screaming twice "Sheriff's office. Open the door!", and it clearly shows the late airman with a gun/pistol in his right hand. I don't know what the police policies are, and it may be the case that the deputy is mostly culpable, but is there a single member on this forum who'd state that if he were answering the door to someone who identified himself as coming from the sheriff's department, he'd come with a gun in his hand? The relevant footage starts at 3:40:

 

Hmm.  Maybe if I was in a really deep sleep and suddenly wake up with pounding on the door?  Maybe if I lived in a really bad neighborhood?  It happened to me once before when there was a fire in my building and I couldn't quite make out what was being yelled, but my first instinct wasn't to grab a gun/baseball bat. (Fire alarm failed and they had to go door to door to get people out). Did he actually point the weapon at the deputy? I am a little alarmed by how our first responders seem to be trained to "shoot if you see a weapon".  At least that is what my friends and family in law enforcement tell me. 

[thaiophilus]

What is this "gun" of which you speak?

Hint: not everybody in this forum is from the USA. 

(If someone started screaming at my door I wouldn't open it at all.)

[Mavica]

The young man was an active-duty soldier in the U.S. Military, living off base which is permitted in many circumstances.  Reportedly, the soldier was on a facetime video call with his girlfriend in a room located at the opposite end of where the front door is situated.  There were three knocks on the front door: once without announcing who the officer was, second when the officer - standing to the side - not in front - of the door and called out identifying himself, and quicky a third identifying himself.  The apartment has an exterior entrance and it's not unreasonable to believe any resident who was at the other end of the apartment, could hear clearly. The soldier, reportedly not certain who was at this front door knocking loudly, retrieved his lawfully owned handgun, approached and opened the door with the handgun at his side pointed downward not in a threatening manner - and without warning or ordering the soldier to drop his weapon, the police officer opened fire and killed the soldier.  The police officer, who had not waited for back-up which was almost at the building before approaching the apartment and who listened at the apartment door before knocking, seeking to determine if a loud or violent domestic dispute was underway - had been given an incorrect apartment number by a woman who met him when his patrol car arrived at the building. There was no indication that there was a reason for the police to seek entrance to the apartment.

 

 

 

 

[Olddaddy]

2 hours ago, thaiophilus said:

What is this "gun" of which you speak?

Hint: not everybody in this forum is from the USA. 

(If someone started screaming at my door I wouldn't open it at all.)

Very true 

I had someone bang on my apartment door in Sydney a few weeks ago.

Some drunk guy staying in a Airbnb same floor got the wrong room.

I didn't open it ,I just shouted through the door to go away 

As for them shouting out sheriffs department I still wouldn't open it .

I would call the cops to confirm it .

Anyone can shout out police or sheriffs department ,so you aren't going to open the door unless confirming it .

This particular case the guy had the gun because he was unsure of who it was ,he shouldn't of opened the door .

The cop should not have shot him ,the gun was not pointed at him.

Secondly if there was no commotion/shouting going inside the apartment then he should of waited for back up to arrive 

 

 

[unicorn]

27 minutes ago, Olddaddy said:

Very true 

I had someone bang on my apartment door in Sydney a few weeks ago.

Some drunk guy staying in a Airbnb same floor got the wrong room.

I didn't open it ,I just shouted through the door to go away 

As for them shouting out sheriffs department I still wouldn't open it .

I would call the cops to confirm it .

Anyone can shout out police or sheriffs department ,so you aren't going to open the door unless confirming it .

This particular case the guy had the gun because he was unsure of who it was ,he shouldn't of opened the door .

The cop should not have shot him ,the gun was not pointed at him.

Secondly if there was no commotion/shouting going inside the apartment then he should of waited for back up to arrive 

All of what you say is probably true. I agree he should probably have waited for backup, unless there was some urgency in the message suggesting someone's life was in danger. I don't find it persuasive that the gun wasn't directly pointed at him, since obviously that can change in less than half a second. It may be that the deputy has the lion's share of culpability. The cop may not have followed standard operating procedures, and, if so, he should suffer the legal consequences. That being said, the victim's best options, as you said, were to either not open the door, or to open it without the handgun in his hand. Even if the deputy was mostly at fault, I feel it's bad judgment to respond to a banging announcing a cop (even if it's someone who's really not a cop, just someone pulling a practical joke) with gun in hand. And, according to the video, this was in broad daylight, not the middle of the night.