After Texas school shooting, many questions loom
BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) - On a doorstep outside a family home, a father wondered why police had to shoot his son in the hall of the boy’s middle school. In an office across town, a police chief insisted that his officers had no choice.
And scores of others in this Texas border city wondered: Could the death of 15-year-old Jaime Gonzalez have been prevented?
A day after police fatally shot an eighth-grader who was brandishing a realistic-looking pellet gun, his anguished parents pleaded for answers, demanding to know why police didn’t try a Taser or beanbag gun before resorting to deadly force.
In front of the family home, the father lamented his loss and called on authorities to explain their actions.
Full Story Here:
After Texas school shooting, many questions loom
As a whole, people are STUPID. Jaime Gonzalez Sr. is one of those people, as the following story and commentary will fully illustrate.
Some standoffs with police last three or four hours, Jaime Gonzalez Sr. said. This one “took not even half an hour.”
Mr. Gonzalez, that stand-off ended when YOUR son pointed what appeared to be a REAL gun at REAL Police Officers, in a REAL world, life or death situation.
I know you are grieving but don’t make an ass of yourself in the process.
Brownsville interim Police Chief Orlando Rodriguez said the preliminary autopsy report showed the boy was shot twice in the torso. Family members initially thought he was shot in the back head, but that wound turned out to be a cut from a fall.
“It really doesn’t change anything at all,” Gonzalez Sr. said after being told of the preliminary autopsy results at the vigil for his son. “If it is a wound from his fall, why shoot him at all? Wound him. Do something else. Use another method.”
The *fall* was likely caused by your son being hit by 2 bullets, REAL bullets.
Mr. Gonzalez, there is no such thing as *shoot to wound*, and as I have pointed out a number of times, that is a statement only made by those that have NO gun training, no police training and/or spend entirely too much time watching television.
In a situation such as the one that YOUR son placed himself and those Police Officers in, there are only 2 ways for it to turn out; either YOUR son drops the weapon, and it did look like a real gun, and surrenders it, or he gets shot, and in this case, KILLED.
I stress KILLED to further illustrate the idea of challenging the Police in a gunfight, it’s not a good idea and the challenger is most likely going to be sporting some big holes in his wardrobe and body parts.
Pay attention Mr. Gonzalez;
But there was broad agreement among law enforcement experts: If a suspect raises a weapon and refuses to put it down, officers are justified in taking his life. The shooting also raised questions about whether pellet guns should be marked in a way that would easily distinguish them from real handguns.
Does that explain it to you Sir? To you and the untold millions of Police hating Libbers and anti-gun idiots that are saying these Officers were wrong? I doubt it does, but I have to ask.
Rodriguez defended his officers, saying the younger Gonzalez pointed the pellet gun at police and repeatedly defied their commands to put it on the floor.
BOOM BOOM … Problem solved, you did your job, you lived to tell the tale, go home to your wife and family and sleep well, with a CLEAR conscience.
Authorities also released a 911 recording from Cummings Middle School. The assistant principal on the phone first says a student in the hall has a gun, then reports that he is drawing the weapon and finally that he is running down the hall.
On the recording, police can be heard yelling: “Put the gun down! Put it on the floor!” In the background, someone else yells, “He’s saying that he is willing to die.”
Before police arrived, school administrators had urged Jaime to give up the gun. When officers got to the school, the boy was waiting for them, Rodriguez said.
“He’s saying that he is willing to die.” Well, he got his wish. Stop blaming the Police Officers because YOUR son was either stupid, suicidal or perhaps BOTH.
Moments before he was killed, Jaime began to run down a hallway, but again faced officers. Police fired down the hallway - a distance that made a stun gun or other methods impractical, Rodriguez said.
As I said, BOOM BOOM. Adios dude, you lose, and there is NO reset button in REAL gunfights.
If the situation had involved hostages or a gunman barricaded in a room, police might have tried negotiations. But instead, Rodriguez stressed, this was an armed student roaming the halls of a school.
Again, PAY ATTENTION Mr. Gonzalez, YOUR son was roaming the halls of the school with what appeared to be a REAL gun, thus placing the lives of every other student in that school in MORTAL danger. YOUR son left the Officers with NO choice in the way they resolved this potentially horrific situation.
The two officers who fired have been placed on administrative leave - standard procedure in police shootings. Rodriguez expected them back at work soon.
I wish these Officers well, and I sincerely hope that something like this won’t cause them to hesitate should a similar situation occur in the future.
Gonzalez’s gun had no markings to indicate it was a pellet gun, according to Rodriguez. Law enforcement experts say users often remove orange bands that may be on such guns, and the coloring can sometimes be hard to see.
California considered legislation last year that would have made the state the first to require that BB and pellet guns to be made entirely with bright colors, but lawmakers did not approve the measure.
The bill was proposed after a Los Angeles police officer shot a 13-year-old boy carrying a pellet gun in a park. The boy was paralyzed.
Although the gun - a replica of a Beretta handgun - had an orange tip, it could not be seen because the incident occurred at night, police said.
There is a lesson here for ALL responsible parents; monitor your children’s activity, be a PARENT, not a *buddy*. Be that hard-ass that says NO and raise the kids to know the consequences of pulling a toy gun, or an air gun on a Police Officer.
Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said the Brownsville shooting appears to be another in a series of incidents that might have been prevented if pellet and BB guns looked different from other weapons.
“Nobody can give me a legitimate downside to this,” said Beck, who testified in support of the failed California legislation. “Does it hurt the sport? No. For me, this is just another way to keep folks safer.”
In some ways I have to agree, bright or gaudy air guns might indeed make a difference, but what do you do when the street hoods catch on and start decorating their *gats* in an effort to lull an Officer into thinking he’s facing a toy gun there Chief Charlie Beck?
The Brownsville shooting unfolded quickly Wednesday just as students were beginning their first-period classes. The boy walked into one room and randomly punched a classmate in the nose.
On Thursday night, about 400 mourners filed past an open casket containing Jaime’s body at Holy Family Catholic Church, a block from the boy’s home. His stepmother sobbed as she embraced each visitor.
Dozens of young teens wearing white shirts sat in the pews and lined the back wall of the church.
“I want to apologize to the young people for what happened to Jaime. It is our fault as adults that the world is the way it is now,” the Rev. Jorge Gomez told mourners.
Some are saying that poor little Jaime was a *good kid*, if the original story is to be believed, a good kid took a terrible turn and is now dead. Rev. Jorge Gomez is right in saying that the world is what it is, but here is the straight truth; no one is responsible for Jaime Gonzalez and his actions, no one other than Jaime himself.
All we have to do now is get the overwhelmingly liberal, and police hating population of Brownsville to accept that fact.
A tazer? You don’t approach someone with a gun when you have a tazer. Bean bag gun? I think we saw what happened in Arizona when a border patrol agent was armed with a bean bag gun and confronted someone with a real gun.
In a sense, pellet guns are real guns. The only difference between the picture of the pellet gun you posted and a colt 45 is two things: The caliber of the projectile; .17 for the pellet gun and .45 for the colt and the propellant. Colt uses gas from burning gun power while the pellet gun uses gas from expanding CO2. Some states treat pellet guns the same as any other handgun if it has a rifled barrel.
This kid doesn’t look like some small kid; looks pretty good size. Here’s a picture of him with some girl who’s holding the apparent pellet gun. From the picture, I can’t tell what type of gun it is.
Pictured: The teenager shot dead after taking pellet gun to school posing with friend holding ‘lethal weapon’
A Brit paper? Somehow, you just have to know that the damned Brits will come out on the side of the kid with that very sarcastic bullshit about ‘the lethal weapon’. God I despise Brits.
Look at the pose the boy struck … he is a *wannabe* bad boy, or, I should say, WAS a *wannabe* bad boy.
It’s probably a good thing the Officers got HIM before HE got a 9mm, a .40 or something just as deadly.
Lets not put the blame where it belongs Fred… It’s EASIER to blame the cops for this than the PARENTS. I’d like to know if the parents of this dead kid ever taught him to respect cops, not to lie to cops, follow directions when police ask you too. These were all things we as children were taught. Little things like respect authority and if you have done nothing wrong be quiet and request your parents be notified before any answers are given…
This kid unfortunately paid the ultimate price because of a lack of parenting. But the cops must be blamed so the blame don’t fall where it should…
I’m sure there’s also some racism involved somewhere…
It’s obvious to me that anyone with this poor of upbringing was destined to be a prison inmate at some point so I’m thinking the cops just saved us some money..
I’m thinking about what happened in Columbine, CO, Paducah, KY, Arkansas, VTech… I have to wonder what the of the victims of these school shootings would have to say about this. In the time it takes for police to respond, usually many children or people are killed and injured. If I lived in Brownsville, I would be grateful that my police department acted on behalf of protecting innocents from harm or death. This boys father is either dumb, not in touch with reality or both.
This dumbass father needs to realize his son was carrying what appeared to be a deadly weapon…therefore the only responce is the use of deadly force…not wounding force. If this kid did have a real gun….wounding someone doesn’t stop them from pulling the trigger or killing someone else around them.
The officers need to be praised for their quick responce in getting to the school and defusing the problem. It was obvious the school officials couldn’t deal with it. Sorry a kid had to die…but maybe it sent a clear message to some of the other students about the danger of being STUPID.
Again
Again Fred, What can really be said that hasn’t been said. My heart is broken for the Officers. They will now have to listen to all of the pundits who will say the shooting should not have happened. They will be correct, it should not have; but it did. Now the parents are searching for the elusive WHY..
As Robert said, look no further than at home. When my son grew up, he grew up around REAL guns, he was taught the rules of the road, even with TOY guns he was taught the toy gun was to never ever be pointed at anyone, it was a constant drill, but it paid off.
Again, I am sorry for the parents loss, I just do not see an option.
The father said they should have wounded him, same results, ‘why did you SHOOT my son?’ Well like you said. Officers are trained to shot CENTER MASS, period, and that translate to your CHEST. There will be a law suit, no doubt, and the city will pay out money, big money, just because. Attorneys will be attracted to them like bugs to a light.
Shoot to wound…
As my retired Trooper buddy Blue Moon is so fond of saying, “Yep, head wounds, chest wounds, big, organ destroying chest wounds.”
And once again this illustrates why I love a .45ACP and a 230gr +P Bonded hollow point.
Yes, I AM that evil!
Too bad no one in the school “wasn’t prepared” to deal with the situation. The entire school remained at risk until the police arrived.
Even if the school had on site security, whether off duty Police or Rent-A-Cops, if they had shot ‘poor little Jaime’ the reactions would have been the same.
What you have to realize is this; it’s Brownsville, Texas, it’s VERY Democratic, libbers abound, of course the gang bangers don’t have a political affiliation, but their families do, and even if ‘poor little Jaime’ wasn’t a gang banger, he WAS a wannabe.
And the bleeding heart libbers will always blame ANYONE other than the guilty party.
‘Poor little Jaime’. He won’t get to grow up and be a BAD ASS after all.
When watching the heartbroken father Jaime Gonzalez Sr. on the TV all I could hear is him saying: “I’m gonna finally get rich off my worthless son.” Not exactly those words, but very close to them.
From the article quoted by Fred:
“Although the gun – a replica of a Beretta handgun – had an orange tip, it could not be seen because the incident occurred at night, police said.”
From the pictures in the Brit paper - wait a minute, could someone please point out the “orange tip” mentioned? Maybe from straight on, in good lighting, you could see an orange tip, but “Gonzalez’s gun had no markings to indicate it was a pellet gun, according to Rodriguez. Law enforcement experts say users often remove orange bands that may be on such guns, and the coloring can sometimes be hard to see.”
So - in the split second the LEOs had before the shooter could have pulled the trigger - in fact, it would appear that fortune smiled on the LEOs in that the trigger was NOT pulled while they were making their approach - they saw a weapon raised in their direction, and from a distance no orange was seen. Yup, double tap, center mass. Self preservation. Survival.
Not all survival skills are centered on making a fire with two sticks and the proper way to gut a deer.
Apparently, not ALL media sources practice journalistic integrity.
Or, someone is as blind as a bat.
Either way, ‘poor little Jaime’ won’t be making THAT mistake again.
And the *occurred at night* thing kinda puzzles me too, I thought school, at least Jr. High, held classes during the day…
Some people are just stuck on stupid. That “poor” little bot got his dumb ass shot because he deserved it, period. The root causes may be piss poor parenting but the fact remains he pointed what appeared to be a deadly weapon at another person. I submit that even a common citizen would have been justified in in popping his dumb young ass. Much less the Police!
He got exactly what the hell he deserved…