LAPD Cops Shoot Young Boyle Heights Man Holding Rifle in His Own Backyard

Alvaanie

There is a lot of holes in this story.. Why doesn't anyone know what happen in the backyard??? Why wasn't there any one else but the victim hurt??? It's obvious he didn't make a very bright decision, but I strongly feel this could have ended a lot less traggic. If the proper steps and procedures would have been followed accordingly. I feel terrible that a father of four died. He was a brother a father and a son. This wasn't a fair trial for thepoor man...

Robert

What a BS heading "A Young BH Man" Excuse me but young is 10 years old not 20 or 30. Let me state some facts for those anti cop posters. Boyle Heights has more gangsters then any other part of the city. Something like 35 gangs and very violent.Officers in this area have been shot at and injured responding to calls. 2 Officers a couple of years ago were ambushed and fired upon before they even got out of their patrol cars. Another Officer and his partners were serving a search warrant on a suspect when he ran out firing and jumped in his car running down the Officer. Officers have been shot out going home coming out of the police station parking lot. Secondly, every time officers respond to these type of incidents they are shot at as assaults against police officers are up. If you think its easy to become a cop try and go thru their academy which is the best in the world. Usually people who criticize LAPD usually have an ax to grind. What do you say about the horrible incident just yesterday of the LAPD Officer who found his mother shot in her home in South LA. Too many people have guns in this city. Another gang officer was followed over the weekend and shot at. So excuse me these are the courageous MEN and Women who run towards the violence while everyone else hides for cover.

truth meter

Yawn...another gun-toting-- hey, he's shooting a gun off in the city, idiots-- wack job prevented from killing someone other than himself. News Flash Arm Chair Quarterbacks-- shoot a gun off in the city and the police will likely come because someone sane and who is concerned about gunfire in the city and in close proximity has called them. When the police come, they also will have guns, and they are trained to properly use them to neutralize any person presenting a danger to themselves (meaning the police officers) or others ( meaning all the rest of us who are not going around shooting off guns in the city). The chances you will die if you do not obey their orders is very high. Don't like that idea...don't call them. You drive over there and disarm Wack-Attack. Yeah, talk him down. Have a little chit-chat and convince him to put away his weapon.

Robert Gettinger

This is happening more and more. Police are called and someone DIES instead of being protected. Police can't even protect a mountain lion which found its way to Santa Monica (without anyone being harmed) however they shot the lion to death when it would not do as they wanted. The problem is police choose deadly force far too fast. Its one thing to shoot back however the majority of Police shootings the only shot fired is by police. Did you know the officers involved are usually returned to the streets and some even are involved in more shootings? While if you or I shot a firearm within city limits and then claimed it was to protect ourselves we'd be arrested and in jail right away. Do we really know WHO we're giving guns to? Are police really investigated or psychologically examined BEFORE we hand them a badge and gun? From all the deaths the standards to hire some who'll carry a gun are overlooked. Then covered up and protected EVEN if they are wrong or unethical. "To serve and protect" that's a joke and lie.

DetroitZillaNoJoke

@Robert G. Brother let me school you. The problem with police shootings when there unjustified is the (CRITERIA) to use lethal force. The law must be changed and you won't live too see it. If an officer believes a given a set of circumstance that his/her life is eminently in danger or too protect others from loss of life they can exercise their legal right and duty as a "Sworn) to take a life. This belief can be (REAL or IMAGINED). Its subjective and final. They don't debate or micro-manage. They respond swiftly embracing their training and "Street Experience" to stay alive. Their clanish and protect their own. I can see it. Not a spokesmen for LAPD or the SHERIFF. Just giving you the skinny. The guy that got wasted made a fatal mistake. You don't brandish a weapon in full view of your neighbors even if on your own property. Cops don't have a crystal-ball and 20/20 is hindsight. The mountain lion incident was tragic and could have been handled in a proactive way to protect nature. That cat was driven to the city by its very nature and had a right to be where it was. The testing process could be better and improved, but just how long do you take to certify a candidate as good too go? Prolonged process will send job seekers to other agencies

Bought and Paid For

Police, for the most part, are not intelligent people. That is why they become police officers. Those that employ the police know this and use it to their advantage. U.S. police forces have become increasingly militarized. For what? Why do police officers need weapons of war? The training and manuals that the police receive are increasingly violent and they are being taught to think that any challenge to power should be squashed. It manifests itself in situations like what happened in Boyle Heights and with the mountain lion. The police have been trained to think this way so that they can be manipulated to do what they are told. Cleaning up after unjustified killings is a small price for the current power structures to pay in order to have a blood thirsty, trigger happy, ignorant, misinformed group of gun slingers on power trips that will follow almost any order.

Remember, the people that make the policies and procedures for the police to follow are much smarter than the police themselves. Police have become tools of the system that has been set up to keep the current power structure in this country. They do not act a certain way on their own accord, they have been trained. The police are bought and paid for, and the police act exactly as their "bosses" want them to. It is the same situation with education. Those who have been making decisions in this country and steering it, have exactly the education system that they want. It provides for an abundance of ignorant people to fill the roles that they want filled.

What % of police officers do you think have read the entire constitution? How many would be able to list the first 10 amendments and explain, in their own words, what each amendment means? Isn't their job to uphold the constitution? Therfore, anyone that does not truly understand it, and certainly everyone that has not read it, should not be a police officer.

DetroitZillaNojoke

@Bought and Paid For. Were all bought and paid for. Your not unique. Cops are not stupid, your all wet on that one. You have brought up some good points though. Departments are increasingly becoming Militarized. 911 was the event that ushered in more intrusion from law-enforcement and loss of Constiutional liberties by statue. Its by design. The Federal Government is pushing it so they have a better handle on the CITIZEN when they percerive its necessary to declare marshall-law which will come inevitably. Times they are a changing. Bob Dylan is song prophet

Nando

You guys are on right on point. I used to have this friend who was a hot-head and not exactly a sweetheart. After losing his job, he decided to pursue (what else?) a spot on the force. Now he's a cop somewhere in SCLA (callously referred to as "the jungle"). From what I've heard from his brother, whom I see from time to time, he's grown to be more of a negative person. Imagine that? Anyway, needless to say a lot of these guys go in for one of 3 reasons: pay/benefits, thrill of gun-toting and a chance to release some stress on the brown and black segment of the population. I was a criminal justice graduate and I have little respect for LAPD/Sheriff's for the racism and discrimination they reinforce since the days of good ol' Charlie Parker. When cops/sheriff's perish in a tables-got-turned moment, few who have ever been on the receiving end from police shed a tear. That number seems to be growing, so expect less sympathy from communities who infrequently see justice being upheld.