Cops TV crew memeber killed in shoot out

scottp68877 · 29-08-2014 01:20PM #1

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/27/omaha-police-kill-cops-tv-show-crew

Police officers who opened fire while disrupting a robbery at a fast-food restaurant killed a crew member with the longrunning TV show Cops as well as the suspect, who was armed with a pellet gun that they thought was a real handgun, authorities in Omaha have said.

The suspect fired from the pellet gun before officers returned fire, Omaha police Chief Todd Schmaderer said at a news conference. He said witnesses and officers thought the robbery suspect’s Airsoft handgun looked and sounded real. They discovered later that it fired plastic pellets.

What do ye think of this? I don't understand how the police could possibly think that a pellet gun could look and sound real. I just think the police are too trigger happy in America.

Shiraz 4.99 · 29-08-2014 01:20PM

Whatca gonna do ?

Timberrrrrrrr · 29-08-2014 01:22PM

Heading into an armed robbery situation where someone points a gun at you and you think you would be able to tell from distance that it's just a pellet gun?

steddyeddy · 29-08-2014 01:22PM

Trigger happy idiots.

Fuzzytrooper · 29-08-2014 01:22PM

scottp68877 wrote: »

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/27/omaha-police-kill-cops-tv-show-crew

What do ye think of this? I don't understand how the police could possibly think that a pellet gun could look and sound real. I just think the police are too trigger happy in America.

To be fair, a lot of airsoft guns look quite real. In fact they're often used as props in films. (Not that I'm opposed to airsoft. Got a nice m4 and used to have a class P90)

o1s1n · 29-08-2014 01:22PM

If you point an imitation firearm at the police in such a scenario then you should be ready for the consequences.

Duggy747 · 29-08-2014 01:23PM

scottp68877 wrote: »

What do ye think of this? I don't understand how the police could possibly think that a pellet gun could look and sound real. I just think the police are too trigger happy in America.

Pellet guns can definitely look like real pistol and rifles from a distance, if some idiot is running around with one shooting at people then they're hardly going to wait until someone is hit to determine if it was a pellet or a bullet.

solomafioso · 29-08-2014 01:23PM

I was all like...

ScumLord · 29-08-2014 01:26PM

A gas powered airsoft gun will not only look like a real gun but it's will cycle like a real gun and make a loud pop when fired including a puff of smoke as the gas leaves the barrel. It could easily be enough to fool someone, even though it doesn't make a loud bang it could be mistaken for a suppressed gun in the heat of the moment.

I wouldn't even point my phone at an American cop.

Fuzzytrooper · 29-08-2014 01:26PM

To my knowledge a number of states require by law for airsoft guns to have an orange tip. If this was hidden or removed then I can see why assumptions would be made by the officer in question.

My name is URL · 29-08-2014 01:28PM

o1s1n wrote: »

If you point an imitation firearm at the police in such a scenario then you should be ready for the consequences.

If you point a gun at police you should be prepared

Not innocent bystanders

seamus · 29-08-2014 01:30PM

Officers continued firing on the suspect as he exited the restaurant

Problem right there. Why are you shooting at a fleeing suspect who is not returning fire?

You should only be shooting a weapon in defence of someone's life. Shooting someone who is fleeing is murder.

shruikan2553 · 29-08-2014 01:31PM

Not sure what you would expect to happen. He tried to make it look like he had a gun, he was successful.

My name is URL · 29-08-2014 01:32PM

Why are people completely overlooking the fact that police shot and killed an innocent man in the process of trying to take down a fleeing suspect? =/

Mena · 29-08-2014 01:33PM

seamus wrote: »

Problem right there. Why are you shooting at a fleeing suspect who is not returning fire?

You should only be shooting a weapon in defence of someone's life. Shooting someone who is fleeing is murder.

It says exiting. Not fleeing. These can be two very different things.

seamus · 29-08-2014 01:39PM

My name is URL wrote: »

Why are people completely overlooking the fact that police shot and killed an innocent man in the process of trying to take down a fleeing suspect? =/

It's inherent that if you get involved in this kind of journalism, then these things are relatively likely to happen. It's a tragedy of course, but he consensually put himself in that risky position.

I think most people are trying to find out why he was hit in the first place, if his job presumably didn't require him to be in the middle of the shoot-out.

Mena wrote: »

It says exiting. Not fleeing. These can be two very different things.

That's a fair point. Most news articles from US sources say that the suspect fired two pellets before officers returned fire, and then he fled out the door.
They seem surprisingly slow to say that the officers fired upon a fleeing man, but they must have otherwise the crew member wouldn't have been hit.

MOH · 29-08-2014 01:55PM

scottp68877 wrote: »

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/27/omaha-police-kill-cops-tv-show-crew

What do ye think of this? I don't understand how the police could possibly think that a pellet gun could look and sound real. I just think the police are too trigger happy in America.

In fairness, they look pretty similar here

TerrorFirmer · 29-08-2014 02:25PM

MOH wrote: »

In fairness, they look pretty similar here

They are almost identical. There is no way to distinguish high end airsoft and real firearms unless you're really examining them fairly close - no way in the world you could expect anyone to distinguish between them in scenario like this. As someone else pointed out, most gas/co2 powered airsoft pistols cycle like a real pistol and make a similar noise. Some models even have ejecting shells as an example of how the line could be blurred even further.

seamus · 29-08-2014 02:28PM

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

They are almost identical. There is no way to distinguish high end airsoft and real firearms unless you're really examining them fairly close - no way in the world you could expect anyone to distinguish between them in scenario like this. As someone else pointed out, most gas/co2 powered airsoft pistols cycle like a real pistol and make a similar noise. Some models even have ejecting shells as an example of how the line could be blurred even further.

Police claimed they saw a muzzle flash as well, presumably in some scenarios you'll see the gas being released when you fire, which could look like muzzle flash?

TerrorFirmer · 29-08-2014 02:30PM

That's a bit more difficult, could see how you might see some sort of discharge, but airsoft devices don't emit muzzle flashes...

29-08-2014 02:38PM

Anybody else read this wondering what happened, then reading it was a cop that killed him, think to themselves "well that makes sense"

scottp68877 · 29-08-2014 02:43PM

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

They are almost identical. There is no way to distinguish high end airsoft and real firearms unless you're really examining them fairly close - no way in the world you could expect anyone to distinguish between them in scenario like this. As someone else pointed out, most gas/co2 powered airsoft pistols cycle like a real pistol and make a similar noise. Some models even have ejecting shells as an example of how the line could be blurred even further.

It is a fair point and I didn't realise that they would actually sound similar. If that is the case do I feel sorry for the cop as he now has two people dead because if it.

ScumLord · 29-08-2014 02:54PM

scottp68877 wrote: »

It is a fair point and I didn't realise that they would actually sound similar. If that is the case do I feel sorry for the cop as he now has two people dead because if it.

It wouldn't surprise me if the camera man just put himself in a stupid position. A show on the air for that long is probably encouraging cameramen to get closer to the action. Maybe it was the first real bit of action the cameraman had seen all week and sense went out the window.

o1s1n · 29-08-2014 03:01PM

My name is URL wrote: »

If you point a gun at police you should be prepared

Not innocent bystanders

That is exactly what I was talking about.

willmunny1990 · 29-08-2014 03:02PM

Americans know the score at this stage, you point a finger at a cop in the states and it could lead to you getting shot, that's the nature of the wild west.

o1s1n · 29-08-2014 03:03PM

seamus wrote: »

Police claimed they saw a muzzle flash as well, presumably in some scenarios you'll see the gas being released when you fire, which could look like muzzle flash?

No, in all the years I was involved in airsoft I never saw such a thing happen as part of the gun's design. Gas is released from the magazine under high pressure and moves the firing mechanism, there's no combustion.

You could, in theory, stick a lighter up to the end of it which might result in that, bit it also might result in the gas mag exploding. I doubt the guy shooting it was doing that anyway.

ScumLord · 29-08-2014 03:14PM

o1s1n wrote: »

You could, in theory, stick a lighter up to the end of it which might result in that, bit it also might result in the gas mag exploding. I doubt the guy shooting it was doing that anyway.

I tried that once, wouldn't recommend it. You get a big fireball and lingering flames at the end of the barrel. Not even hollywood would try passing it off as muzzle flash.

Little CuChulainn · 29-08-2014 03:42PM

Mena wrote: »

It says exiting. Not fleeing. These can be two very different things.

Not when you got axe to grind.

seamus · 29-08-2014 03:55PM

o1s1n wrote: »

No, in all the years I was involved in airsoft I never saw such a thing happen as part of the gun's design. Gas is released from the magazine under high pressure and moves the firing mechanism, there's no combustion.

So on a particularly hot or cold day you wouldn't see a puff of gas (not necessarily a flash) coming from the barrel? Pure curiosity.

Could also be a trick of the mind; the officers' minds see what they expect to see when they see a weapon and hear a shot.

Paramite Pie · 29-08-2014 04:00PM

My name is URL wrote: »

Why are people completely overlooking the fact that police shot and killed an innocent man in the process of trying to take down a fleeing suspect? =/

That wasn't actually that clear from the OP. I misread that TV crew member pointed a pellet gun at the police. I hadn't read the link.:o

Nerro · 29-08-2014 04:13PM

Anyone who knows how to handle a real gun and will have training will know the difference between airsoft gun and real thing. Even tho they look real but there are differences. End of barell is a dead giveaway. In my opinion it just shows how incompetent police force in US are. Shoot first ask questions later.

Cops TV crew memeber killed in shoot out

Comments