A St. Louis police officer fatally shot a man brandishing a knife on Tuesday, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The shooting put many on guard amid racially charged protests in nearby Ferguson, Mo., over the shooting of an unarmed black teen on Aug. 9. This incident, however, seems unrelated.
When police arrived on the scene in St. Louis, the suspect pulled out a knife. The suspect died on the scene after two officers fired their guns, according to the St. Louis police chief.
Officer involved shooting in the sixth district. Suspect brandished knife at @slmpd officers. No officers injured. Investigation is ongoing.
— Chief Sam Dotson (@ChiefSLMPD) August 19, 2014
Today @SLMPD officers received a call for a subject who appeared agitated & was armed with a knife. Suspect yelled kill me now & approached.
— Chief Sam Dotson (@ChiefSLMPD) August 19, 2014
Officers gave suspect verbal commands. Officers feared for their safety and both officers fired their weapons. Suspect is deceased.
— Chief Sam Dotson (@ChiefSLMPD) August 19, 2014
Officers are on administrative duty per department policy. The investigation continues.
— Chief Sam Dotson (@ChiefSLMPD) August 19, 2014
Authorities said that the man tried to rob a convenience store, according to Fox 2 Now St. Louis.
Following the shooting, a crowd gathered around the scene (pictured above via Fox Now 2 St. Louis).
From the description, this sounds like a case where the cops shooting was the right thing to do. The person had a knife, was approaching the police, and not listening to any orders. While with Brown, the cop shot him several times while he was standing there with his arms up. When someone’s hands are up and they are just standing there, there is no reason to keep shooting.
At first blush, sounds like suicide by cop.
Unless there is video of this event, any speculation that goes on in your mind is futile.
A guy with a knife can be taken down with all sorts of weapons that are not deadly. A gun can be used to injure and not kill. Only people with guns need to met with deadly gunshots. Knives, no,
It’s worth reading the local coverage. It’s way too early to draw conclusions, but I wonder why cops seem to be shooting to kill a person with a knife – that seems like poor training at the very least.
Anyway, we need more information. Again, the KSDK story has more information.
As I understand it from recent reading re: Ferguson, cops are trained to shoot to kill-not maim.