Saturday, February 5, 2011

Colorado Police Shooting Justified

Absolutely.  This is the way it should be done. The guy was drunk and suicidal, firing a .45 all over the place.  A police marksman shot him in the ass, they disarmed him and took him away. Now, what's so hard about that? Here's the story in the Coloradoan.

Officer Carrie Wills fired one shot from a patrol rifle at James Scheu Jr., 49, who had fired numerous .45-caliber handgun rounds into the air and properties near his residence in the 3000 block of Longhorn Court. 

Scheu survived the shooting to his buttocks and was taken to Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland. He was discharged Jan. 30. No officers or other civilians were injured.
I wonder if this was Officer Carrie Wills' doing, or if the whole Fort Collins Police Department deserves congratulations. What do you think?

Please leave a comment.

12 comments:

  1. This is wicked of me.....but my first thought was to wonder which was the bigger target for the police marksman, the drunk's head or the drunk's buttocks? Not for a moment that I would prefer to see this drunk KILLED, with an actual head shot - far from it - but rather the notion of a rubber bullet or, if distance made it possible to use it of some sort of taser-type disabling alternative might have done less damage.

    My second thought was this was perhaps a better occasion for a buckshot butt shot, or even one of Zorro's kiddie .22 rounds?

    My third thought was to wonder if the drunk would need a tetanus booster....and would he get it in the other cheek, or the same one?

    My fourth thought was to hope this local police officer will be given some sort of award, but that it will be clever, commend his presence of mind and competence, with a bit of wit and humor.

    Just one more example of how firearms and alcohol do not mix well.

    My other thought was that maybe there needs to be a new official NCIS category.... too stupid to ever own a gun. I believe we have our first name with this drunk.

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  2. So, the police officer who made the tush shot was a woman - well done as well!

    That demonstrated a heckuva lot of restraint by law enforcement given this drunk was shooting repeatedly at police. This could have been instead a repeat of Bonnie and Clyde's last shootout instead.

    Sometimes a bit more estrogen and less testosterone kicking in is a good thing in preventing escalation.

    The one piece of information that was not in the news article was whether this was a legally acquired weapon or not. I'd be curious if you do more researchon the story - other local sources might have it - because Colorado is actually a very very good state for cooperating with the NCIS data base in providing current names.

    Colorado is a much more balanced relatively pro-gun/ pro-2nd Amendment with reasonable and effective restrictions and law enforcement, in comparison to states like Arizona.

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    1. i am elizza scheu james scheu's daughter. he is not suicidal he was mad at the caseworker who put me and my siblings in foster care. he's harmless

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  3. "Officer Carrie Wills fired one shot from a patrol rifle at James Scheu Jr..."

    So it is a "patrol rifle" when used by the police but the same exact gun is an "assault weapon" if owned by you or me.

    And you all say that there is no media bias or selective use of terminology.

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  4. FWM took the words right out of my keyboard.

    How about this reason for why we *need* patrol rifles? Being more accurate than a handgun, it can be used to shoot an assailant in the butocks instead of the chest.

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  5. I agree that Officer Wills does seem to have exercised very commendable judgment and skill.

    I will point out, though, that she probably had some luxuries that are rarely available to cops (and others) in shooting incidents. She had a rifle, rather than a handgun, which makes it less critical to take the easier "center-mass" shot (avoiding the center-mass shot's significantly higher lethality).

    It also sounds as if she had more time to set up the shot than is typically available in a shooting situation, and probably had time to set up behind cover, taking even more of the urgency out of the shot.

    I am not in any way trying to minimize the quality of her performance--it sounds exemplary. What I caution against, though, is using a comparison to this incident, to condemn all the officer-involved shootings in which the officer(s) fire most of a magazine into the perpetrator's chest.

    Sometimes, that is the most appropriate action.

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  6. I guess you guys have come up with a good demonstration for the fact that "assault weapon" is often used in a derogatory or alarmist way.

    Dog Gone, I had the same thoughts about the female officer when I asked that loaded question.

    "I wonder if this was Officer Carrie Wills' doing, or if the whole Fort Collins Police Department deserves congratulations. What do you think?"

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    1. officer wills shot my dad because of the fun of it i think. he is harmless. my dad would not hurt anyone on purppose

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  7. MikeB,

    I once read a news account that described a police encounter. Some teenage boys were out in a gully target shooting an AR-15. The article mentioned that police officers were called and because the boys had "assault rifles" the police responded armed with their "patrol rifles", also AR-15's.

    I wish I had a link to the stories still, it was quite hilarious really such a use of terminology by the same reporter. I sent an email to the reporter and editor inquiring about the use of terminology but they never responded.

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  8. That is funny, and I believe it.

    Zorroy pointed out to me on another thread that claiming the news headlines are biased is silly. Sometimes their sloppy reporting favors one side, sometimes the other. I guess it's mainly ignorance on their part.

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    1. ok punks! mt dad would never hurt you of officer wills. oh yeah and you know what he wasn't shooting at the officer he was shooting at a tree if you should know she hust wanted a reason to shoot him. k. so shush it

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    2. Is your dad ok now, topanga?

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