Cop charged for shooting gunman

[GoodLuckTurtle]

http://www.cbc.ca/m/news/canada/british-columbia/wristbands-supporting-const-jordan-macwilliams-raise-controversy-1.2880080

An emergency task force officer was charged with second degree murder for shooting a gunman outside a casino in New Westminster, British Columbia, near Vancouver. He was charged two months ago by prosecutors and the shooting happened in November 2012.

The officer has been freed on bail. The gunman took a woman, allegedly his girlfriend, hostage after firing gunshots in the air outside a casino parking lot. He then released the woman and pointed his gun at his own head for five hours. At the end of the stand off the gunman was hit by the emrgency officers' plastic pellets and bean bags. One officer fired his automatic rifle, striking the gunman at least once. He died a few days later.

The cop who was 25 at the time of the shooting was apparently supposed to fire a plastic pellet gun instead of a real firearm. According to prosecutors apparently the gunman did not pose an immediate threat that allowed deadly force when he was shot.

Many people think the charge of murder is extreme for an officer who was dealing with a distraught gunman. It's also the only instance where a police officer in the province was charged with murder in an on duty death. The cop is also being sued by the victim's daughter. If guilty of murder he faces a minimum 10 years of prison.

Does it sound like the cop went too far or was deadly force necessary for shooting a man with a gun pointed at his head while walking towards a huge swarm of emergency task officers and city officers with bean bag guns and plastic pellets. Canada's self defense laws are different than the United States'.

Many of his fellow officers have supported him as well as the public, saying that a charge especially murder is unnecessary.

Seeing as many people are talking about police shootings on here including a recent one involving a guy being shot for pointing a gun at a cop I figured this would be of interest. Although that shooting sounds clean.

[CiviLies]

I definitely feel like murder is too extreme. I think in this situation, this is one of the rare times I would be okay with a police officer found innocent of wrong doing. I get that the gunman clearly had issues, pointing his gun at other people and then turning it onto himself, and that the officer (accidentally) used excessive force, buuuuut I feel like if any officer of the past few incidents should be let go, it should be this one. If there had to be a charge it shouldn't be any worse than manslaughter, or whatever the Canadian equivalent is.

[Chocomilk]

Guy was pointing a gun at his own head for five hours. He probably wasn't going to shoot himself, or anybody for that matter. The sorry fucker needed help, not a round from an automatic rifle.

[GoodLuckTurtle]

At 12/24/14 08:06 PM, CiviLies wrote: I definitely feel like murder is too extreme. I think in this situation, this is one of the rare times I would be okay with a police officer found innocent of wrong doing. I get that the gunman clearly had issues, pointing his gun at other people and then turning it onto himself, and that the officer (accidentally) used excessive force, buuuuut I feel like if any officer of the past few incidents should be let go, it should be this one. If there had to be a charge it shouldn't be any worse than manslaughter, or whatever the Canadian equivalent is.

They have the charge manslaughter in Canada. I think that the reason why he was charged is because this department is considered one of the most corrupt in all of Canada.

I agree murder is a stretch to consider this shooting

[NGPulp]

What's with all the shootings lately?

Everyone's so fucking trigger happy these days-- then again, they used to have duels before.
I guess it's because journalism is always focused upon shit like this.

[DM692]

At 12/24/14 05:47 PM, GoodLuckTurtle wrote: The cop who was 25 at the time of the shooting was apparently supposed to fire a plastic pellet gun instead of a real firearm.

I would very, very much like to see the source for this particular statement. If it is true, the department had protocol in place for the handling of the situation, and the protocol was broken resulting in a fatality. That being said, I think whether shooting the guy was the right thing to do becomes irrelevant when the protocol was put into place to prevent fatalities.