Gun cops in spotlight again

metman

Two stories making the news today regarding the police use of firearms;

Police in Australia have shot dead a 15-year-old boy in a skate park, claiming he had threatened them with knives.

The officers in the southern city of Melbourne said the youth had continued to approach them with the weapons even though they had fired warning shots. The boy, named as Tyler Cassidy, was also hit twice with pepper spray. The boy died at the scene after being fired on by several times by officers. His family condemned the shooting, saying: "The entire family and friends of Tyler Cassidy are appalled at the actions by Victoria Police last night. Their heavy-handedness and lack of negotiating skills at the scene of the shooting contributed to the untimely death of our beautiful 15-year-old.

Speaking after the event, Victoria state police assistant commissioner Tim Cartwright said police were called to the park after several people reported seeing a young man behaving erratically. The boy had stolen knives from a nearby department store earlier in the day, Mr Cartwright said.

"He was irrational. He was yelling and screaming and, as far as we can tell, armed with two knives at that stage," he said, adding that the situation was a tragedy but that officers had acted appropriately. The shooting is now under investigation. Friends of the teenager posted messages on his MySpace page. "Gunned down by idiot cops. That's life hey?" one reads.

"You were a mad little b****** but no one will ever forget you," said another. According to his personal page, Tyler was a member of a nationalist group called the Southern Cross Soldiers. The group says it is not racist but is calling on Australians to "fight for what is truly ours".

"This is about how we walk down the main street in any town, or city in Australia and see more foreign flags than we do Aussie, hear more foreign languages than we do English, in all honesty it's about the fact that we as true Australians are becoming the minority in OUR own country!" its website says.

The shooting comes less than a week after police in Athens, Greece, fatally shot a 15-year-old boy, sparking a series of riots across the country. The shooting has reopened the debate in Australia on arming police with Taser.

Video here.

Source.

At the same time this article from the BBC on the result of the DeMenezes open verdict and the police policy regarding suicide bombers.

Ian Beale

metman wrote: »

Two stories making the news today regarding the police use of firearms;

Police in Australia have shot dead a 15-year-old boy in a skate park, claiming he had threatened them with knives.

The officers in the southern city of Melbourne said the youth had continued to approach them with the weapons even though they had fired warning shots. The boy, named as Tyler Cassidy, was also hit twice with pepper spray. The boy died at the scene after being fired on by several times by officers. His family condemned the shooting, saying: "The entire family and friends of Tyler Cassidy are appalled at the actions by Victoria Police last night. Their heavy-handedness and lack of negotiating skills at the scene of the shooting contributed to the untimely death of our beautiful 15-year-old.

Outrageous the police actually defended themselves with the kit there issued with, how dare they:rolleyes: Somehow I doubt the police drove up and did a drive by and very much doubt they wanted to have to kill a child, yes its a tragedy that a life was taken but if someones going towards a police officer with knives regardless of their age and they were warned multiple times to stop what do people expect them to do?

Eru

metman wrote: »

"The entire family and friends of Tyler Cassidy are appalled at the actions by Victoria Police last night. Their heavy-handedness and lack of negotiating skills at the scene of the shooting contributed to the untimely death of our beautiful 15-year-old.

Attacking police not too mention innocent passersby with knives had nothing to do with it. Negotiation? Attack armed police with knives are you get shot dead. Not rocket science is it? Problem here is blaming the police for this guys own actions and lack of parental control.

metman wrote: »

"This is about how we walk down the main street in any town, or city in Australia and see more foreign flags than we do Aussie, hear more foreign languages than we do English, in all honesty it's about the fact that we as true Australians are becoming the minority in OUR own country!" its website says.

You have to laugh really,

FGR

I hope the officers involved are not treated like criminals during this process.

I dread the day a Garda member will be required to discharge his firearm in an incident involving juveniles. The personal stress alone would keep him/her out of work for months nevermind the pending investigation.