20 Year old Irish man,shot dead by US police

03-07-2008 09:41AM #1

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0703/hanlona.html

Irish man shot dead by US police

Thursday, 3 July 2008 09:19

The family of a 20-year-old Dublin man is trying to establish the circumstances surrounding his death in the US three days ago.
Andrew Hanlon, who is believed to be from Dundrum, was shot dead by a police officer in the small town of Silverton in the north western state of Oregon.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio's Morning Ireland, Andrew Hanlon's sister, Melanie Heise, who lives in Silverton, said the circumstances surrounding her brother's death were the subject of much hearsay.

She said police told the family on Tuesday that Andrew had been shot dead but they had not contacted the family directly since then.
Ms Heise said there was a lot of anger about his death in the town, which has not had a shooting for 20 years. She said local residents had held a protest. They were appalled and wanted to know why excessive force was used.

The funeral home had told the family that Andrew had suffered extensive injuries. She asked why a taser was not used instead of a gun.
Ms Heise said her brother had arrived in Oregan several months ago and stayed with her and her husband before moving out to live on his own.
She said it was at this point that she noticed he had psychological problems and had organised psychiatric treatment for him. She added that people who had seen him before the shooting said he appeared fine.

Ms Heise said her brother was not the kind of individual to keep a gun.

In the incident, it is believed the officer was responding to a reported burglary when he encountered Mr Hanlon and shot him. He died at the scene shortly after 11pm on Monday night.

An investigation is under way and the police officer involved has been placed on administrative leave.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed it is offering consular assistance to Mr Hanlon's family.

drunkmonkey · 03-07-2008 09:48AM

That's why i've never visited or intend on visiting America....

Cops are shooting civillans everyday, I think the cops in this case as making out that he could have been escaping from a burgulary (which is utter rubbish).
Even if he was that's no reason to shoot a man dead...

Shame on America...

My heart goes out to his family and friends, this is a very sad case...

_blank_ · 03-07-2008 09:52AM

Hang on.

The sister was on the rayjo this morning.

Apparently the dude was being treated for psychological problems.

Maybe he gave the policeman cause to shoot?

03-07-2008 09:54AM

Glad the cop has been put on "administrative leave", seems like seriously excessive force was used. Unless the kid held a gun to the cops head there is no justification in shooting him. Escaping from a burglary is not cause to kill a man.

03-07-2008 09:55AM

DesF wrote: »

Hang on.

The sister was on the rayjo this morning.

Apparently the dude was being treated for psychological problems.

Maybe he gave the policeman cause to shoot?

Maybe he did. It certainly sounds like he probably did from what I heard from the sister BUT shoot him in a non fatal - non life threatening area FFS....."extensive injuries" regardless of the circumstances is hugely excessive force.

_blank_ · 03-07-2008 09:56AM

Deleted User wrote: »

seems like seriously excessive force was used.

No it doesn't.

It doesn't SEEM like anything.

We know ONE fact, a kid got shot by the police in a town where nobody has been shot for 20-odd years.

ejmaztec · 03-07-2008 09:57AM

DesF wrote: »

Hang on.

The sister was on the rayjo this morning.

Apparently the dude was being treated for psychological problems.

Maybe he gave the policeman cause to shoot?

Perhaps they thought that he was eyeing up their doughnuts, that would make them take the safety off.:eek:

MIN2511 · 03-07-2008 09:58AM

Saw the news this morning... Shame!

We don't know the extent and the real story, knowing the American's they can fib the story as well and make it suit them

Ah ffs he was only 20!

Good the cop has been put on leave, i wonder if thats due to media coverage etc

whiskeyman · 03-07-2008 10:00AM

MIN2511 wrote: »

Good the cop has been put on leave, i wonder if thats due to media coverage etc

Any cop involved in such an incident is always put on paid leave.
The incident is investigated, and once the cops actions have been cleared, he'll be back to work.

03-07-2008 10:00AM

DesF wrote: »

No it doesn't.

It doesn't SEEM like anything.

We know ONE fact, a kid got shot by the police in a town where nobody has been shot for 20-odd years.

And that doesnt seem odd to you?

Im not saying he definitely didnt do something to warrant force being used but A) cops are supposed to try and wound, not kill. and

going by what we have heard, with the cop being put on admin leave, it definitely seems fishy. People dont protest in the victims defence if they were waving a gun around and threatening society. A blind man can see that something is up here. Now that said the guy had psychological problems and his sister was trying to put him into John of gods in Dublin but I still cant see how it warrented being shot, especially when the cops hav tasers.

03-07-2008 10:02AM

whiskeyman wrote: »

Any cop involved in such an incident is always put on paid leave.
The incident is investigated, and once the cops actions have been cleared, he'll be back to work.

Is that regardless of media attention or only in the cases where it garners a lot of media attention?

MIN2511 · 03-07-2008 10:03AM

whiskeyman wrote: »

Any cop involved in such an incident is always put on paid leave.
The incident is investigated, and once the cops actions have been cleared, he'll be back to work.

Thanks for clarity...

And it doesn't matter if no one has been shot in 20yrs, this young fella is dead and we need answers

whiskeyman · 03-07-2008 10:06AM

Deleted User wrote: »

Is that regardless of media attention or only in the cases where it garners a lot of media attention?

Media attention wouldn't affect it - it's a routine policy for most forces in the US:

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1214965531274590.xml&coll=7

The district attorney's office, in a statement, said Hanlon was shot by Officer Tony Gonzalez about 11:18 p.m. Monday after police responded to a report of a burglary in progress near Oak and Mill streets. Gonzalez has been put on paid administrative leave, a routine procedure, while the shooting is investigated.

ThE_IVIAcIVIAIV · 03-07-2008 10:10AM

the shame, what an ****in idiot cop i hope he dies.whats the world coming to? and maybe he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time... and didn't rob anybody. and having mental problems is no reason to be shot. and sure the cop wouldn't have known about his probs.... poor family.

jester77 · 03-07-2008 10:15AM

I thought stun guns was all the rage with officers over there.
Shooting someone is not the answer.

DadaKopf · 03-07-2008 10:23AM

It'd ever so slightly amusing that The Oregonian newspaper thought this story more important than the shooting death of Hanlon. I mean, it's a pretty important story.

seamus · 03-07-2008 10:23AM

I don't know, there's something very odd about this.

On the Radio this morning, his sister said he started showing psychological problems, "which were typical of his age". Sounds like an odd remark to me. Psychological problems are not "typical", regardless of age.

Although it's rare for an unarmed man to be shot, it's not unheard of.

Who's to say the dead kid didn't ring the cops himself and say, "Yeah I think I saw a guy breaking into a house. He definitely had a gun." So the cops arrive, weapons drawn (they wouldn't take a tazer to a gunfight), and this kid arrives, hand behind his back saying he has a gun or something. Suicide by cop they call it.

Yes, I'm making up a whole possible scenario, but then so is everyone else. We don't know who, if anyone, was at fault here.

BKtje · 03-07-2008 10:25AM

Cops are shooting civillans everyday, I think the cops in this case as making out that he could have been escaping from a burgulary (which is utter rubbish).

Until (if we ever) we get the full story you can't say one way or another if it's utter rubbish or not. The fact that a shooting hasn't happened in over 20years should tell us that they don't usually go off shooting at everything but again we don't know enough to make that claim.

Of course i feel bad for the guy and his family but this automatically assuming the cops were in the wrong is absurd. Innocent until proven guilty and all that.
Now if it turns out the cop mishandled the situation then by all means throw the book at him.

_blank_ · 03-07-2008 10:28AM

seamus wrote: »

On the Radio this morning, his sister said he started showing psychological problems, "which were typical of his age". Sounds like an odd remark to me. Psychological problems are not "typical", regardless of age.

I hate to be pedantic, but that isn't the actual quote.

She said he was experiencing psychological problems, and that he was at the age where they can manifest themselves.

NOT that they were typical.

Sherifu · 03-07-2008 10:33AM

Sounds like there's more going on here than meets the eye.

MIN2511 · 03-07-2008 10:34AM

Sherifu wrote: »

Sounds like there's more going on here than meets the eye.

I agree...

And tbh i don't think we would ever know the truth

_blank_ · 03-07-2008 10:34AM

Sherifu wrote: »

Sounds like there's more going on here than meets the eye.

No way.

drunkmonkey · 03-07-2008 10:36AM

B-K-DzR wrote: »

assuming the cops were in the wrong is absurd.

Bollix the cops shot a man dead they are wrong, end of story!!!

If they ever arm the Gardai I will start carrying a gun myself and will shoot first if one of them even looks funny at me....

I didn't hear of any cop being wounded or shot at in this instance.....

seamus · 03-07-2008 10:36AM

DesF wrote: »

I hate to be pedantic, but that isn't the actual quote.

She said he was experiencing psychological problems, and that he was at the age where they can manifest themselves.

NOT that they were typical.

On newstalk, that's *exactly* what she said.

Perhaps she worded it badly.

If they ever arm the Gardai I will start carrying a gun myself and will shoot first if one of them even looks funny at me....

Check yourself in here with the rest of the animals and do us civilised people a favour.

SheroN · 03-07-2008 10:36AM

Anyone feel a bit sorry for the cop?

Dragan · 03-07-2008 10:38AM

SheroN wrote: »

Anyone feel a bit sorry for the cop?

Well in the public eye the whole guilty till proven innocent thing applies it seems.

Sherifu · 03-07-2008 10:38AM

DesF wrote: »

No way.

Uh huh.

_blank_ · 03-07-2008 10:39AM

seamus wrote: »

On newstalk, that's *exactly* what she said. Perhaps she worded it badly.

Apologies, I heard her on Morning Ireland.

Amazotheamazing · 03-07-2008 10:41AM

I dunno, the fact that no-one has been shot there in 20 years indicates something must have happened to make the cop fire at him.

Btw, this notion of all cops being highly trained expert marksmen who will shoot the guy in the knee or thigh and render him unable to flee is based on what exactly? Do people know hard such a shot would be to discharge?

03-07-2008 10:53AM

Has it even been announced where he had been shot? (on the body, before anyone says Oregon)

Dyr · 03-07-2008 10:54AM

Deleted User wrote: »

And that doesnt seem odd to you?

Im not saying he definitely didnt do something to warrant force being used but A) cops are supposed to try and wound, not kill.

No, they're not but please continue talking out of yer swiss on the subject, this is AH after all :pac:

20 Year old Irish man,shot dead by US police

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