107-year-old killed in a shootout with cops

[Inky_Wretch]

He kept shooting at the SWAT team, eventually they shot back.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/08/justice/arkansas-107-year-old-man-death/

 

[Starman]

He fights authority, authority always wins.

And yes, I am concerned.

 

[cyclingwriter]

so, they had a camera in the room...he was 107....the guy eventually would have fallen asleep or turned on Matlock.

 

[Vombatus]

or run out of ammo

 

[H.L. Mencken]

Was he mixing codeine and cough syrup and Skittles to make purple drank? Where is the narrative?

 

[Songbird]

Old Goob ****ed up and grabbed his Cialis pills instead of the Skittles.

 

[Jake_Taylor]

Cut down in the prime of his life. So sad these youngsters can't stay out of harms way.

 

[DanOregon]

The guy lived through World War I, World War II, the Depression, the Cold War and 9/11. I blame Bret Beilema.
Glad nobody else got hurt. I realize the guy was 107, but a bullet doesn't care if you're a terrorist, a 4-year-old kid, 100 years old, a gangster, mentally ill, a soldier or a cop. Whomever fires a gun, the damage potential is the same.

 

[Stoney]

so, they had a camera in the room...he was 107....the guy eventually would have fallen asleep or turned on Matlock.

Exactly. This is precisely the thought I had from reading that article. You've got a 107 year old alone in a room with an gun, and you've got a camera in the room watching every move he makes, is it really necessary for the SWAT unit to go busting in there with guns raised while he's still awake and upset? Just wait him out, soon enough he'll eventually fall asleep, he's 107 for chrissakes.

Just one of many stories I see where I wonder whether law enforcement officials actually stop and use basic common sense in considering how to handle these situations.

But, hey, how many times can you say a 107 year old's life was cut down prematurely by non-natural causes? I guess it's a more interesting way to go than to just stop breathing one night.

 

[Oscar Gamble]

Isn't anyone concerned that the media hasn't revealed the name of the police officer that shot him? [/crossthread]

 

[Batman]

He died doing what he loved.

 

[DanOregon]

Yelling "Get off my lawn?"

 

[Bradley Guire]

I got to cover one of these big SWAT sieges a few years ago (and it's always one guy with a small-caliber pistol, never a band of guerrilla fighters with automatic weapons or anything). I was amazed that the suspect was actually arrested and didn't wind up with his blood used as primer for the walls of a hotel stairwell.