Sorry for the length of this post but I'm curious: Re: the text below would the officer who was shot with the pellet gun be justified in returning the fire? Clearly he showed remarkable restraint.
My curiosity is peeked because of another situation that happened here recently. LEOs stopped a van containing several juveniles who were suspected of shooting at pedestrians with pellet guns at night. Personally I believe they were gang members training to improve their drive by shooting skills. But suppose this van had not been stopped and they continued their delinquent behavior in residential neighborhoods. Would a legally armed civilian being attacked by these same juveniles be justified in returning the fire? I realize this scenario is highly situational because I haven't set the background. But assume for discussion purposes the armed civilian would not be risking any innocent bystanders if he decided to defend himself. If you knew the juveniles were armed with pellet guns would that affect the decision to return the fire?
NEW: Injured man charged with shooting deputy
Web Posted: 07/07/2005 12:12 PM CDT
Mary Moreno
Express-News Staff Writer
A man accused of shooting a Bexar County sheriff’s deputy in the neck with a pellet gun was charged this morning with two counts of attempted capital murder.
Joseph Barron, 18, was charged by proxy because he’s still at Brooke Army Medical Center recovering from gunshot wounds he sustained when two deputies returned fire after they say he lunged at them with a knife.
The injured deputy, whose name was not immediately released, was treated at BAMC and released, said Deputy Chief Ruben Garcia.
The shooting occurred at about 2 a.m. in the 7900 block of Union Shoals in Northeast Bexar County, Garcia said.
Deputies were called out to a home for a disturbance and arrived to find Barron trying to get into a car. When deputies approached him, he showed them he had a gun and a knife tucked in his belt, according to officials.
Barron walked away from officers as they instructed him to drop his weapons, Garcia said. The man told the deputies to “go ahead and shoot me, go ahead and kill me,” Garcia said.
The gunman's mother told deputies that the weapon her son was holding was a pellet gun, but Garcia said deputies couldn’t be sure that’s all it was because “to look at it, it doesn’t look like a pellet gun.”
At some point, the man turned and fired the pellet gun, striking one deputy in the neck. Still the deputies didn’t fire their weapons.
“In my opinion, they showed a lot of restraint,” Garcia said.
Deputies say it wasn’t until the gunman lunged at them with the knife in hand that they shot him. Several bullets struck him in the lower portion of his body, and his injuries don’t appear to be life-threatening, Garcia said.
The officers might be put on a administrative duty, as is routine, but Garcia said it doesn’t appear they violated any policy.
My curiosity is peeked because of another situation that happened here recently. LEOs stopped a van containing several juveniles who were suspected of shooting at pedestrians with pellet guns at night. Personally I believe they were gang members training to improve their drive by shooting skills. But suppose this van had not been stopped and they continued their delinquent behavior in residential neighborhoods. Would a legally armed civilian being attacked by these same juveniles be justified in returning the fire? I realize this scenario is highly situational because I haven't set the background. But assume for discussion purposes the armed civilian would not be risking any innocent bystanders if he decided to defend himself. If you knew the juveniles were armed with pellet guns would that affect the decision to return the fire?
NEW: Injured man charged with shooting deputy
Web Posted: 07/07/2005 12:12 PM CDT
Mary Moreno
Express-News Staff Writer
A man accused of shooting a Bexar County sheriff’s deputy in the neck with a pellet gun was charged this morning with two counts of attempted capital murder.
Joseph Barron, 18, was charged by proxy because he’s still at Brooke Army Medical Center recovering from gunshot wounds he sustained when two deputies returned fire after they say he lunged at them with a knife.
The injured deputy, whose name was not immediately released, was treated at BAMC and released, said Deputy Chief Ruben Garcia.
The shooting occurred at about 2 a.m. in the 7900 block of Union Shoals in Northeast Bexar County, Garcia said.
Deputies were called out to a home for a disturbance and arrived to find Barron trying to get into a car. When deputies approached him, he showed them he had a gun and a knife tucked in his belt, according to officials.
Barron walked away from officers as they instructed him to drop his weapons, Garcia said. The man told the deputies to “go ahead and shoot me, go ahead and kill me,” Garcia said.
The gunman's mother told deputies that the weapon her son was holding was a pellet gun, but Garcia said deputies couldn’t be sure that’s all it was because “to look at it, it doesn’t look like a pellet gun.”
At some point, the man turned and fired the pellet gun, striking one deputy in the neck. Still the deputies didn’t fire their weapons.
“In my opinion, they showed a lot of restraint,” Garcia said.
Deputies say it wasn’t until the gunman lunged at them with the knife in hand that they shot him. Several bullets struck him in the lower portion of his body, and his injuries don’t appear to be life-threatening, Garcia said.
The officers might be put on a administrative duty, as is routine, but Garcia said it doesn’t appear they violated any policy.
